Pokemon And The Legendary Guardians
by Frost3332
Summary: In a little, virtualy unknown region, trouble is about to strike, and its bigger than anyone could ever imagine. The bad guys are at it and only a group of teenagers and their Legendary partners can put an end to their trouble and save the world.
1. Chapter 1: New Town New Start

Chapter One: New Town New Start

Through the window, the world flew by. The various green shades of the trees and blue shades of the water blended together in a blur; tinted icy blue by the reflection of my hair in the glass. I reached up my hand and pressed my fingers, crowned by sapphire nails, against the window. Before my eyes, the scene changed. All I could see now was the vast blue ocean and the reflection of my face. My icy blue eyes against the sparkling aqua water created a dazzling image, like my eyes were two ice burgs in the sea, and an illusion that they were the water's eyes.

A tap on my shoulder pulled me away from my window gazing and I turned to face my mother. A woman in her early 40's, my mother looked like she was only twenty. Her silky black hair was wrapped up in a bun and a few stray strands hung in her face. She always wore long khaki pants and a T-shirt and normally had a notebook in one hand and a pen behind her ear.

"Frost, I know your still made, but you'll like Breeze Town. The so-called town my mother was talking about was more like a cluster of half a dozen houses. There was no true Mart, and no Pokémon Center. Located in a region that isn't even listed on half the world maps. Of course, thanks to Mother's research job, I was dragged against my will, away from my friends, into that joke of a place.

My mom was a Pokémon Researcher, and had been since she was twenty. All the time, she would go out in the field and study wild Pokémon, with the hopes of discovering new ones. That's why she was so interested in the * region. It had been discovered a while ago, but few people went to investigate, even fewer came back with findings, and there were virtually no new Pokémon discovered.

"If no new Pokémon have been discovered, then why are we flying all the way over there?" I had asked in a last attempt to bring my mother to her senses before we boarded the plane destined for the middle of nowhere. My mother had merely winked at me and said, "The others, Frost, just don't know where to look."

As much as I admire my mother and her research skills, (after all she was the one to discover Totodiles, Flygons, Sunkerns, Espeons, and many other Pokémon. I thought she was to out of her league on this one, though.

"Frost!" my mother continued, pulling me from my memories and back to the present. "The plane is landing soon and Professor Palm will be ready to meet us as soon as we land, so try you put on a smile instead of that scowl".

I turned away from her and started fiddling with the chain around my neck and the peculiar stone at the end of it. I was still mad at her for forcing me to come, and I always twiddled with my necklace. My father had given me that stone when I was thirteen, the day before he disappeared. It was blue with a black swirl cloud, and sometimes the colors would change randomly. It was quite mysterious. Seeing I wasn't going to respond, my mother sighed and turned away, leaving my to my stone examination until the plane landed.

"Ah, you must be Mrs. Hill!" I glanced over to where my mother was standing to see the man who had just spoken. He was a tall man with wild, hazel colored hair that stuck out in all directions. His skin was tan, and he was lean and fit. He wore glasses, as is a common stereotype for most professors, but his seemed more like something you would wear to the beach. "Hello, Prof. Palm" my mother returned the greeting "It's good to meet you in person. This is my daughter, Frost." My mom gestured towards me, and the professor followed her hand motion.

Professor Palm scanned me for a moment. I was fifteen. Icy-blue hair hung down far past my shoulder, about to the length of my elbow. I had streaks of black scattered though my hair as well. Mr. Palm seemed most stunned by my eyes, as most people are. They are icy blue and seem to nearly glisten in the light. The stone around my neck had changed from blue to a stunning, emerald green. I wore a black shirt with neon paint splattered all over it. My baggy black jeans had a chain attached to them, just like the one around my neck that held the stone. I had set down the luggage at my feet and my arms were folded across my chest. I had already scanned my surroundings and was now giving my mother an ice-cold glare. The little town was even worse then I had hypothesized.

"Well nice to meet you too" Palm had finished his evaluation and held out his hand to me. I didn't move. My mother was evidently angered that I wouldn't shake the man's hand, but she wasn't going to start a scene right there. Instead she covered up my rude attitude.

"Professor Palm, would you mind showing us to the house we will be staying in? Frost and I have to bring our belongings inside, then we can head straight to your lab and get to work." Nodding in agreement, Professor Palm lead the way to our new home as we trailed behind carrying all of our things.

After we hauled all the suitcases and boxes in the house, my mother followed the professor to his lab. I wasn't about to tag along like a clingy little eight year old. "Blitz," I called as I tossed a Pokeball into the air "come on out!" With a flash of light, my most trusted partner appeared at my side.

Blitz was a growlithe, and probably the most powerful growlithe in the world. His orange fur was brighter then fire and his eyes blazed with strength. When I was ten, my mother discovered the first Arcanine, and found an arcanine egg. The egg was placed in the lab, but at the time, acranines were thought to be legendary. They were so big and mighty and strong. Everyone was interested in the egg, word of it spread over the region like wild fire. I snuck into the lab one day to see the egg, and thieves were there! They didn't notice the quiet little girl that had just entered the lab, they were to focused on the egg. They took it away and raced to their getaway car. I bolted after them and hopped in the back, still unnoticed. They reached their headquarters and ran in to get their boss. The moment they were out of side, I bursts from underneath the big cover I had been hiding under. I grabbed the egg that they had conveniently left in the car, then I ran as fast as I could into the woods.

Men in black uniforms with a big red R had run through the woods shouting when I hid. I stayed silent and hugged the egg. A single tear of fear had brushed down my nine-year-old face, but I quickly whipped the tear away. I never cried. I exiled the fear from my mind, then shimmed my way up a tree with one hand while my other hand clutched the orange ad black egg. When the men passed the tree and continued searching through the woods for the egg-robber, I slid back down and dashed in the other direction. Never in my life had I run so fast, nor had I head my heartbeat so quickly, or felt such an adrenaline rush. Men chased me, but somehow, my child brain outsmarted theirs. I swung tree branches back at them, weaved through trees, hopped stones across a river, and leapt from one side of a ledge to another, while still holding the egg.

My mad rush had paid off, I somehow managed to leave every single one of the villains in the dust, and as I collapsed on the floor, panting and struggling for breath, I was rewarded for my hard work. The egg started glowing and before my eyes, it hatched. I was the first person to see the new growlithe, and that very same growlithe became my first Pokémon, Blitz.

"Growl" Blitz barked, letting me know he was ready to explore our new home. "Sorry buddy, memories." I pet his head as I pulled myself back to the present once more. I had been trapped by memories since I boarded the plane, but perhaps that was just because the past was better then the present at the moment.

"Lets go explore" I decided. Blitz wagged his tail in agreement and I shoved two waters and a snack in my backpack, then the two of us darted out the door.

We walked through the small little town that was now my home. Our house, along with the three other houses in the town, was gathered around the lab and I guessed that they were all the homes of workers. I had little to no hope that there were any other kids in the town, and I was pretty much antisocial towards adults, so Blitz and I headed for the trees. "Lets find a training course" I decided. Since the day he was born, Blitz and I had been training. I had other Pokémon too, of course, but I left them at my old home. My friends needed them more then I did. As long as Blitz was with me, I could take on whomever I came across. Besides, I didn't think many trainers would be around here, but I was wrong.

As soon as Blitz and I found a place to train and were about to begin, we heard a noise in the bushes. "Flamethrower" I whispered. My Pokémon agreed with a nod, took a step forward, and released a giant burst of fire from his mouth, charring the bush to a crisp and revealing whoever was behind it.

"MANECTRICCC" The Pokémon that was behind the bush let out a battle cry and sparks flew everywhere. It had a very angry look in its eye. "Run" I screamed to Blitz, seeing that Manectric was not very pleased about the flamethrower stunt. Blitz and I tore of through the trees, angry Pokémon hot on our heels, lightning bolts lit up the whole forest. I glanced back to see if we were still being chased. It was a stupid move because I was unaware of the giant tree root right in front of me. I tripped like the klutz I am and tumbled forward, Blitz ran into me and we both rolled down a hill, unable to stop.

"Ompth" I exclaimed at the two of us finally slowed to a stop at the bottom of my head. I blinked my eyes open and there was a Poochyena staring right at my face. "Err hi there" I said to the little grey Pokémon. "Hi" came a girl's voice in reply. My eyes went wide and I jumped to my feet and whirled around. Standing in front of me was a teenage girl about my age. Next to her was the Manectric that had just chased us. He was calmer now; perhaps even a little amused after watching Blitz and I roll down the hill.

"Sorry" the girl apologized as she looked over at me. She had short black hair with red types at the end. Cargo pants, fastened with a neon black and yellow belt, hugged her waist. "Manectric didn't mean to scare you." There was a hint of amusement behind her eyes, just like her Pokemon. "We weren't scared, were we Blitz" Blitz barked in agreement, but the girl rolled her eyes "Sure, and you were running for your lives and tumbling down a hill for fun" "We were exercising Manectric for you, he looked like he could use a good run, your welcome!" I replied, folding my arms across my chest in stubbornness.

Manectric let out a snort and Blitz growled at him. "You're the one that needs training" The girl decided. I raised my eyebrows "Is that a challenge?" I clenched my firsts and stood next to my growlithe, both of us were ready for a battle. "Maybe it is" The girl replied. "You ganna use your Matectric, or Poocheana?" I asked as I looked from one of her Pokémon to the other. She grinned "Neither" A Pokeball was thrown up in the air. After a beam of read light from the ball, a Pokémon with a blue back and yellow belly appeared, He took one look at Blitz, then exclaimed "Lava" and two flames appeared on his back. "A Quilava" I noted "Fire against fire." The girl nodded, and out two Pokémon took on their fighting stance. Both of us backed away from our Pokémon, knowing things were about to heat up.

"Blitz, flamethrower" I ordered. My Pokémon began to heat up and then fire exploded from his jaws like water from a hose. "Fire Spin, Sparks" The girl ordered and her quilava leapt into the air and began spinning rapidly. The flamethrower was send all around her Pokémon, but the fire spin blocked most of the damage. I braced myself for qualava's attack, but the girl didn't give a command right after fire spin as I thought she would have. After a brief pause, I gave Blitz another command "Blitz head to the trees" I ordered, then instead of watching my Pokémon, I moved my attention to the girl. "Follow him" she ordered. I could see the gears turning around in her head. Something told me she was a fairly new trainer but had the potential to be great. She had probably done something different with Pokémon before taking the road of a trainer.

"Blitz knock down that tall pine tree with slam" I ordered. Blitz didn't even pause to review how strange my command seemed, he trusted me and my strange ways, so he simply slammed the tree and it fell down with a thud right where I predicted it would. "Now race over it at full speed." I screamed out the command. "Follow" the girl decided. I smirked an evil smirk. She was doing right as I hoped and I would teach her a valuable lesson about battling. She was new in the art, and for some reason I wanted to help make her great. Though of course, I'd never say it out loud. I loved helping people, but if people knew that the scary blue haired girl was really a softie, my whole reputation would be ruined.

Blitz hopped of the log and whirled to face the quilava who was about half way to the other side. "Fire blast it" I screamed. The girl's eyes widened, she had realized what I was up to, but it was already to late. The log was charred in an instant and qualava fell into the quicksand below. I had been planning to fetch the stuck Pokémon out with a stick, but before I could blink the girl rushed forward.

She was faster then a Dodou and her black and red hair streamed behind her as she ran. Without hesitation, the girl leapt over the pit of quicksand and snatched Quilava as she flew through the air. She landed in a crouching position; one had on the ground for balance while the other clutched her Pokémon. Instantly I knew she must have been a Ranger because only rangers can pull of a stunt like that.

"Nice save" I complemented. My arms were folded across my chest and I was leaning back on one foot, glancing over at the girl. "Ranger feet" I called. It was meant as a compliment, but it sounded like an insult, as most my comments do. She turned and looked back at me, her eyes locked on to mine "Nice dirty trick" she replied. I smirked, deciding to take the response as a compliment. "I try" I said, my eyes narrow. After brushing the stray strands of hair from my face, I patted my thigh, Blitz's cue to come back. "Got a name" I asked. "I got one" she replied and the response made my smirk grow wider. I liked her attitude and I could see us as friends.

"Glad ya got one" I called back and began to walk away. "Kendo" she answered even though I asked no further questions. "Kendo the ranger" I repeated "Well I'm Frost" I whirled around faster then a hipmontop could. "Nice ta meetcha" I said, purposefully thrusting my hand out so Kendo nearly fell over backwards. She blinked for a moment, then shook my hand. "So ya just gotta growlithe?" she asked. I nodded "This is Blitz, I actually just moved here and he's the only one I brought with me. What about you? Are those three your only ones?" Kendo nodded "Poochyena, Manectric, and Sparks." Swinging the small pack of my shoulder, I pulled out some of the pokefood I had packed for Blitz and I gave each of Kendo's Pokémon a bit. Then I gave half of my own sandwich to kendo and sat on a log to eat. "So you live here?" I asked her.

"Just moved here from the Thurdra region. I was a ranger for a while, but decided to be a trainer a little bit ago." I nodded. "I'm new here too, I was hoping you could show me around, but I guess I'll just have to find my own way around." I said. "I'm still trying to find my way too," She admitted. "but I'm sure we will get used to it eventually, maps always help." I laughed, happy to be able to relax in the woods and eat with a new friend. Of course, my cheerful moment didn't last long. Suddenly Blitz, who always leaned against my leg, went tense. I could fell the muscles tighten in his body so I looked down. Sure enough his ears were perked and his eyes were fixed in the woods. The branches moved and a deep growl erupted from his throat. I glanced at the stone around my neck and sure enough it was no longer blue. I forgot what color it was, but that honestly didn't matter to me.

"Run! Now!" I shouted as I snatched my bag up from the floor. I grabbed Kendo by the wrist and hauled her to her feet before I turned and fled through the trees. Blitz was hot on my heels, literally because he panted puffs of fire, already heating up in case he had to fight. Kendo followed us with her Pokémon, though she was clearly clueless as to what was going on. "Into the town, quick" I said, weaving through the trees. Blitz sped in front of me and navigated us back home. I kept turning back to see if our pursuer was closing in. Typically I stay true to my name and keep my cool in most situations, but this was an exception.

The six of us finally burst out of the maze of trees and into the town. I never had, nor ever would be happier to see the pathetic cluster of homes in my life. Still, I didn't stop running till I had blasted through the door of my own home and slammed it shut behind me.

"What the heck was chasing us!" Kendo's red eyes blazed wildly as she stared at me, waiting for an answer. If I gave it to her, she would have thought I was nuts, so instead I just shrugged. "Something scared Blitz, and when something scares him, its best to leave." My answer was half way true, whatever could scare Blitz would certainly be bad to meet, but he wasn't the scared one. He would have done anything to protect me, and that's why I wouldn't let him fight.

"It scared Blitz?" Kendo was evidently not amused. She gave me an annoyed look and for a moment I thought she was going to hit me for being such an idiot. Heck, I wanted to slap myself for sounding so ridiculous. I felt like a complete chicken, a loser, but still no one could know what I was really afraid of. Only Blitz and I knew what was after me, and we still didn't know the whole story, nor did we want to.

"Well now that was fun" Sarcasm filled Kendo's voice as she returned her Pokémon to their balls and then opened the door to my house and stepped outside. I returned Blitz, to his displeasure, and followed her out. "So you live around here?" I asked, trying to change the subject. In response she pointed to a reddish brown house at the other side of town. "Oh wow, I didn't think any other kids lived here" "Well I do" she replied. I could tell she was annoyed, and she had a right to be. When your new friend runs for her life through the woods with no warning at all, you deserve an explanation. "Look Kendo, I'm sorry about all that." She just nodded, walked into her house, and closed the door behind her. I kicked the dirt with my shoe, shoved my hands in my jean pockets, then trudged off to my own home.


	2. Chapter 2: Till Death Do We Part

"Frost, get up" I was awakened by a pillow hurled at my face. "Leave me alone Mom" I mumbled, glancing at my clock. It was ten AM. "Leave me alone" I spat again and yanked the pillow over my face. I was in no hurry to get up, Blitz however, was as eager as my mom and grabbed my covers in his jaws. Backing up in determination, he shook his head and tugged, pulling my covers with him. I snatched them and clung, falling on my back with a thud when I was dragged of the bed. The oldest trick in the book and I fell for it, literally.

Shoving the covers away from me, I blinked my eyes open to see my mother and Blitz staring at me. "What." I demanded, my tone cranky and annoyed. "Professor Palm wants to speak with you," she said, and walked out. Blitz glanced at me one last time, then turned and left the room. With one last grumble, I forced myself to my feet and pulled a T-shirt and shorts out of my still unpacked suitcase. After I changed and brushed my teeth, I stomped off to the lab.

"You called?" I muttered as I walked in the door of the lab. My mother and Sam were standing next to the professor, and Kendo was there too, with Pooch on her shoulder. The professor looked over at me, probably amused by my bed head and perturbed look. "I need some help with a research project" he explained. "My mom's the research rat, not me" I mumbled, thinking this wacky professor might need a reminder. "I need you to run a few errands for me, there are a few gyms starting up here, to bring more members to this region, so you can battle a gym on your way and make the trip worth your while. Besides you could even discover a new Pokémon while making deliveries for me." The professor finished his persuading speech expecting to find me ready to go. Instead I was in my normal stance, leaning to the side with my arms folded. "I don't do gym journeys" I said in a bored tone before turning to leave.

"Frost listen to me, you're a fifteen year old girl that still hasn't gone of on a big time trainer quest, I appreciate you staying to help me out and keep me company, and I know your still upset about your father, but you cant just stay home and act like he will waltz right though the door and sweep you up. Listen to me Frost, he isn't coming back and don't put your life on hold waiting for him. You need to go of and have an adventure; Professor Palm is giving you the opportunity to explore a region that isn't well known. You should take that opportunity before it knocks on someone else's door. I'll be fine here. I'm not lonely. I have my own Pokémon, and a job that keeps me busy. I've moved on, and it's your turn to do the same thing." My mother took a breath after her lecture, and I just stood stone still. My mother never lectured me. I didn't know what to say. Even worse, Kendo had heard the whole thing and who knows what my almost friend thought of me after that.

Everyone was silent for a few moments; no one knew what to say. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and broke the silence "Gimme your stinking packages so I can deliver 'em already" I muttered, ready to take the stupid parcel and leave this place behind me, but of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. "Kendo's going with you, I'd introduce you, but she says you're already acquainted with each other". _Great!_ I thought to myself. _She must have told them all about what happened yesterday._ "Two minds will be better then one, and it's a bad idea to travel alone in a new, strange place anyways" The professor continued. "So you two will go together to deliver a few very important things to my friend in Soceo city. Just say your looking for Alex, and someone will point out the way." Professor Palm handed Kendo and I each a box, then my mom handed us a few empty pokeballs. "You may want to catch a few more Pokémon." My mother recommended gently. "I just nodded, hoping she would stop talking. Of course, I had been planning on catching Pokémon. That was all part of being a trainer. "Here, take this too" She added as she hung a small digital camera around my neck. "We need pictures of the land and Pokémon to make maps and further our research." I nodded again, and finally the pestering stopped and Kendo and I left the building to start our quest.

"Frost?" Kendo said as soon as we were out of the city. She turned to look at me, locking eye contact. "What freaked you out so much yesterday?" I sighed, knowing the question was bound to pop up sooner or later, better get it over with. "When I was younger I was attacked by a really strong Pokémon. It came out of no where." Kendo thought for a moment "So now your paranoid?" she guessed. "That's why my Manectric scared you so much, and that's why you were so freaked out about the rustle in the trees." I nodded, "I saved Blitz from a group of robbers that wanted to steal him when I was six" I added, trying not to sound like an overgrown scaredy-cat.

Kendo took it all better then I thought. "So your worried someone will try and take Bliitz away, and giant Pokémon coming out of nowhere scare you.", "Mhm" I replied, and to my surprise she smiled. "Well like I said before, I'm a ranger. So no need to worry, Frost. No ones taking Blitz away on my watch."

Her comment surprised me, I was suspecting some sort of mocking remark about being so paranoid. The reassuring, protective friend was a happy surprise. Of course, I was never one for hugs, so instead I showed my appreciation by rolling my eyes. "Blitz and I can handle ourselves quite nicely, thank you" I stated. Naturally, a Spinarak had to extend from a tree and land on my shoulder, thus causing me to let out a startled scream and stumble backwards, then trip over a root and land on my rear in a puddle of mud.

"You handle yourselves quite nicely" Kendo started cracking up and I glared at her as I pulled myself up and wiped of my muddy jeans as best I could. "Shut up no one asked you." I growled then picked up my stuff and stormed off towards my house with her behind me, still snickering.

I packed up my bag with everything I might need for a long journey. Some changes of clothes, all the money I had, some pokefood and potions, and of course, my pokegear. That little gadget was a radio and a phone, and a map. All of which were great to have. Once I was ready, Kendo and I set out to begin the journey. She, of course, had packed earlier. The professor had told her yesterday about the errand.

We listened to the radio as we hiked through the forest. When one of my favorite songs came on, I couldn't help but join in. "I am a superstar with a big big house and a big big car! I am a superstar and I don't care who you are!" I sang as I marched through the forest and over logs. "Your scaring away all the Pokémon" Kendo complained. She had her hands over her ears trying to block out my horrible singing. We were hopelessly lost, and I figured the least I could do was provide some entertainment for our trip. My partner in crime evidently didn't think the same way. "Shut up Frost!" She ordered. Her red eyes blazed in annoyance and she looked like she was ready to murder me. I let her have about five seconds of peace before I broke out into another song. Then I proceeded to run for my life as she chased me through the trees.

Dash to the left, skid to a halt and turn right, I weaved around through the foreign jungle trying not to let my pursuer catch up. There was a broad smile on my face as I dove under tree branches and leapt over logs. This was a lot more fun then just slowly walking to our destination like a normal person. "Kendo stop" I called as I skidded to a stop with a pounding heart. "Oh sure, now you want mercy" She replied, knowing I was cornered. I had run to the edge of a cliff and there was no way to escape. "You should have thought about this before you drove me crazy" She replied, evil glint in her eye. I held up my hands "Alright alright, peace?" I offered with an innocent look. She stepped closer like a wild beast, and I was her prey.

"Promise not to sing and I may let you live" she said when she was only about two feet away from me. I shifted my foot back, and rocks tumbled over the cliff. "You know that was entertaining" I replied, not ready to give into her ridiculous demands. "Don't make me push you" She threatened playfully. Suddenly there was a rustle in the bushes behind us. I glanced at my necklace; it was still ice blue. Still, I had a bad feeling about what was coming.

"Kendo pause" I said and motioned to the bushes "Someone's there" She rolled her eyes "Yea right" Then it came. A giant Zangoose with claws sharper than razors and fur glistening in the sun launched out of the bushes and sped straight towards us. "Kendo!" I yelped in surprise and took a step back, forgetting about the lack of ground behind me. With another startled shriek I plummeted backwards. I tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing to grab. My life flashed before my eyes. I saw my father training his Pokémon and showing me how to be the best. I saw my mother bringing home the Growlithe egg with a big smile on her face. I saw the strange robbers, chasing me through the woods. I saw the Pokémon that had changed my life forever. Then I saw Kendo, lying on her stomach, clutching my wrist and keeping me from plummeting to my doom.

"You idiot" she growled. Her ranger skills had kicked in right on time. I glanced down to see how high I was. Stupid idea. Then I glanced up to see if the Zangoose was still there. Even worse idea. Zangoose was stalking over to Kendo, its claws were positioned and its shiny blue eyes glinted in anticipation, like it was ready to slice Kendo in two. That wasn't going to happen on my watch. With my other hand I snatched the pokeball from my belt and hurled it into the air. I successfully smacked the Shiny Zangoose in the head with the ball, and made it even more angry. With a flash of red light, Blitz appeared from the ball, ready to save the day.

Blitz and Zangoose fought viscously as Kendo hauled my back up to safety. "Thanks" I panted, then glanced over to see how Blitz was holding up. Half of the trees were charred to a crisp, the other half had been sliced in two by dagger claws. I wish I could saw it was an even match, but Blitz was struggling just to doge the quick slashes, and besides some singed fur and bite marks, zangoose looked fine. "Fire blast em" I called out in frustration. Blitz was the most powerful Pokémon I had ever known, besides my father's draginite and a legendary I had meet once. If this Zangoose was beating him, it must be really strong. Blitz did as he was told and sent a giant blast of flames at the Zangoose. The Pokémon crossed his arms in a defensive technique and the blast, then he launched forward and engaged his claws in a powerful attack called crush claw. Blitz fell to the ground and Zangoose started another swift move before we could blink, Poison Jab. Blitz, angry and nearly defeated, let out a giant blast of fire, hotter then anything he has done before. "Overheat" I breathed, realizing Blitz had just learned a new move. The power sent Zangoose staggering backwards, then Blitz fell, passed out from the difficult battle.

Blitz had fallen, and Zangoose had won, but still the blue and white Pokémon hovered over Blitz as if he was still going to attack. "Get away from him" I screamed, but it was too late. Zangoose reached out his long claws and shoved Blitz across the floor. Blitz let out a yelp as he skidded across the ground. That pushed me over the edge. "Frost stop!" Kendo warned, but I had already launched myself onto the zangoose's back and had my arms wrapped around his neck. "Don't you dare hurt Blitz" I growled and actually bit the Pokémon's shoulder. Manectric was there two seconds later grabbing my leg and dragging me off Blitz's attacker. Then poocheana and Spark where there, ready to fight Zangoose.

"That thing is freaking awesome!" Kendo exclaimed. Her eyes were full of admiration "Its shiny!" she breathed. I rolled my eyes and looked up at the Pokémon, still ready to strangle the guts out of it. Suddenly a slow clapping sound echoed through the trees and I glanced up to see another trainer. She had straight black hair to her shoulders that was unevenly cut, as if she had done it herself with a knife. There was a layer of red hair on top of the black that stuck out in various directions. Skinny jeans hugged her legs and a black button down shirt with a sassy collar, red string accents, and pockets on each side of her chest secured with belt buckles. To complete her appearance, she had snakebites, two piercings on her bottom lip that reminded me of snake fangs.

"Bravo" she said as she ceased her clapping and leaned against a tree. "Four Pokémon and one crazy kid and Malice still isn't down, pathetic" I glared at her as I held Growlithe in my lap. "Malice?" Kendo asked as she called her Pokémon back "So this zangoose is yours" The girl nodded, then brought up something in her hand to her mouth and then blew out cigarette smoke. "He's mine, and he's the best zangoose out there. Malice leaned against a tree as his trainer did, chewing on a twig without a care in the world. Both trainer and Pokémon were defiantly a bit full of themselves, but after that battle I suppose they had a right to be. I was still angry, but now that I had calmed down a tad I realized that if anyone could battle like that they must have quite a lot of skill, and I kind of respected the new girl for that.

"Got a name?" I asked as I rose to my feet with Blitz passed out in my arms. "I got one" She replied, scanning me with pale red eyes. I locked her gaze with my own icy eyes and finally she spoke again. "Agony" she replied. "Frost," I stated. "Kendo," Kendo added in. "Know where there's a Pokecenter?" I asked, still cradling Blitz in my arms. Agony just swept her hand in a signal to follow as she strolled of through the trees. Kendo and I exchanged a glance, then followed.

The three of us made quite an interesting group, and we made more then a few heads turn as we walked into the new city. Agony and Kendo both had black and red hair, and though Agony's eyes were pale, they were still red like Kendo's. I was the outcast with my blue streaks, though the black was the same for the whole group. All three of us could be quite stubborn though, and we all must have seemed like we were up to no good as we all walked through town. "There's the center" Agony pointed to a small, run down building with the familiar health sign on the roof. I nodded my thanks and darted in the doors, the others following behind me.

"Can you heal my growlithe?" I asked as I picked Nurse Joy out of the crowd and made my way over to her. "Oh my! What happened" She asked, I glanced back at Agony, then back to nurse Joy. "Tough battle, we won't loose next time though." I explained, Agony let out a little amused grunt to say 'yeah right.' Nurse Joy just shook her head and took Blitz from my arms then carried him to the back room. I followed and Kendo and Agony trailed behind me, their Pokémon could probably use a quick healing too.

Growlithe was wounded worse then I thought. Nurse Joy carried him around to the emergency room. "You can't come in here!" Joy exclaimed as I barged into the room. I folded my arms and glared at her, refusing to leave. My friends came in and stayed too as Blitz was hooked up to all kinds of machines. "Didn't realize we hurt him that bad," Agony mumbled "He'll be alright" Kendo assured me, perhaps she remembered her promise to keep Blitz safe.

I walked around the room, passed all the other Pokémon fighting for their lives. It all seemed unreal, like a nightmare. "They all have trainers?" I wondered aloud, and turned to Nurse Joy for an answer. She shook her head. "Most of them are wild." She replied. "So what happened to them?" I was answered with a shrug and a new mystery.

The alarm sounded and immediately my heart began pounding. Blitz is dying. I thought, but it wasn't Blitz. Nurse Joy rushed over to a Zatu. Its heart monitor was now a straight line, and from all the movies I had watched I knew that wasn't a good thing. Nurse Joy tried to zap some life into the poor bird as another alarm went off. This time it was Blitz. I rushed passed the others and leapt over a table. My arms wrapped around Blitz as the life fled from him. This didn't make any sense, Blitz hadn't been wounded that badly! Everyone held their breaths in silence. Then, at 6:38, as the sun set and dawn was upon us, Blitz was pronounced dead.

Nurse joy tried to escort me out of the room, but I was a statue, frozen in place, and refused to budge. A few of the other Pokémon were pronounced dead to, including the Zatu. I had never seen death before, but something about it seemed to insane to be real. How could they all be gone, just like that? Kendo gently laid her hand on my shoulder "Frost" she said weakly "I'm sorry" Agony tried to cheer me up too, despite the fact that we had just meet. Nurse Joy was growing annoyed, she had to take Blitz's lifeless body away, and I was still weeping over him. I felt myself being hauled to my feet, and in desperation I screamed out. "I wish he would live! "I wish they would all live."

The alarms stopped beeping, and I opened my wet eyes and brushed warm tears from my face. "Blitz" I sniffed weakly, the room was completely silent for a moment, then Blitz blinked his eyes opened, turned his head towards me, and licked my cheek. "Oh Blitz, God I love you!" I exclaimed as I buried my face in his fur. "Don't ever do that to me again" "Grrr" he replied, and nuzzled my face.

I lifted my head up and brushed the tears away quickly, then I turned around and noticed everyone was staring at me, like I had just grown a Mawile tail and had Skitty ears. "What?" I asked, forcing my usually snappy tone to cover up my tears. "Um, how did you do that?" "What just happened? Kendo and Agony were staring at me in confusion. Pokémon, who were dead only moments ago, were now glancing around in awe wondering what had happened. No words could even describe how surprised Nurse Joy was, and I though she was going to faint right then. "Outside guys" I said as I scooped Blitz up in my arms and carried him out the door. "I'll explain everything outside."


	3. Chapter 3: Next Stop, Jail

The gang and I headed outside of the Pokémon center and around to a quiet, secluded area in the back. It was dim and damp in the small little ally, but we hardly noticed. Agony leaned against a wall, Kendo hopped on top of the garbage bin and sat down, and I made myself comfortable on a newspaper stack in the corner with Blitz on my lap. All eyes turned to me expectantly, so I begun the story.

"It's every little girls dream to go out and become a Pokémon trainer, especially when her father is always out training, and her mother is researching them. Sometimes that little girl can't wait till she's ten, so she has the bright idea of going out when she's only six. That's what I did, and a six year old wandering around alone with no map nor phone, or anything is always a bad idea. Of course, being six, I was oblivious to all that could go wrong until it did. Eventually I became hungry, lost and confused, so I collapsed on the floor and wept.

Pokémon have a natural instinct in them to please others, especially kids. All kinds of wild Pokémon came to try and cheer me up. There was a sunkurn that danced all around, a spinida that spun and tried to make me laugh, a lickingtonge that licked the tears away from my face, and many more miscellaneous Pokémon. However, one Pokémon stood out from all the rest, it was a Pokémon that was rarely seen and existed mainly in legends; one who was announced a guardian over something, and trusted to look over everyone. It was a physic Pokémon with a pale body and bright yellow head, shaped like a star. The three pieces from the top of the star each had a sea green rectangle, and the Pokémon has tiny blue green marks beneath it's blue eyes, and, I suppose it was a tail made up of two yellow pieces that blew in the wind as the Pokémon flew. That Pokémon was Jirachi, the wish-maker!

"Now I'm not sure what you guys know about Jirachi, but legends say it can only grant one wish every thousand years, and that after it grants a wish it goes back to sleep for that thousand years. I didn't want my new friend leaving, so I didn't ask for a wish, instead I played with Jirachi and the other Pokémon until my parents came and found me. I went home safe and sound, and I didn't see Jirachi again until I was ten, the second day of my Pokémon journey.

"Since I had gotten Blitz when I was nine, and he was already pretty well trained, I didn't need a starter Pokémon from a professor. Blitz and I were ready to begin a Pokémon adventure of our own. We packed a backpack, said goodbye to my parents, and headed out. As we were looking for the next town, we stumbled across tire tracks, and, due to childish curiosity, we followed. The tracks lead us to a Poacher's camp, and the poacher was after Jiachi! This was the same spot that I had seen Jirachi four years ago, and supposedly, the wish-maker was still there. As quietly as e could, Blitz and I followed the poacher and disengaged all the traps right after he put them up. If my old friend was still there, I didn't want it getting caught.

"The poacher caught on eventually and sent Blitz and I on a wild goose chase of traps while he set up the real trap. Jirachi was captured and I immediately switched into rescue mode. Like a military officar, I began barking out orders to every Pokémon I saw. 'Blitz use ember! Polywag over there, can you use water gun? Pinsar, snap the bars with your pinsirs!" I was bossing everyone around, but all the wild Pokémon were to concerned with saving jirachi to care that a little girl was telling them what to do. Some didn't follow orders, but most were happy someone had taken the lead of the situation as was directing a rescue plan. With everyone working together, we saved Jiraci from that horrible person who was trying to steal it.

"'Run!' I shouted as we raced through the forest. The poacher wasn't going to let a ten year old ruin his plans. He had powerful Pokémon of his own. We stopped for a moment to catch our breath, and out of no where a mighteana lunged from the pushes and pinned me down to the ground. I kicked and screamed, but there was nothing I could do to get the big Pokémon off. Pinsaur followed after mighteana and

fought Blitz, keeping both me and my growlithe away from Jirachi. That's when Machamp came, and seized poor Jirachi with three of its four hands. I screamed at the top of my lungs and struggled to break free. I even bite Mighteana to get him to let go. Blitz was fighting his best too, but Pinsaur was just to strong. The poacher came, laughing like an evil scientist. 'I won't be beaten so easily, little girl!' He had said. I thought all would end right there. I thought Jirachi would be gone, Blitz would be killed, and I would have failed as a trainer. Then my dad came.

He was enraged like a stormy sea, and had a certain air about him that seemed to be able to produce electricity like a Pikachu, and zap whoever came to close. My father had always been very protective of me, especially after my little incident when I was six. He pulled a pokeball from his belt and draginiar popped out to save the day.

"I don't remember what moves draginair used, but after a quick battle, Machamp was knocked out on the floor, pinsaur was fleeing through the trees, and, of course, Mighteana learned never to mess with daddy's little girl again. My dad and his draginair were heroes. The poacher left, and jirachi was free. I immediately rushed to Blitz to make sure my trusted partner was alright. That's when Jirachi came over to me and, as a mark of gratitude for my efforts, promised me a wish."

I stopped my story and scanned the reactions of my two friends. I had said all that needed to be said, but they both were still glancing at me as if I still had more to speak about. Kendo was especially ready to hear more. I paused and caught my breathe, stroked Blitz a few times, then continued on to end my little tale.

"I didn't know what to wish for then, so I decided to save my wish. I also decided to go through some intense, at-home-training with Blitz because daddy wouldn't always be around to save us.

"Each day after the encounter with the poacher, however, my dad grew more and more distant. Sometimes he would just gaze of into the distance, other times he'd disappear overnight and not tell us where he went. I worried about him, but every time I brought it up he would change the subject. One night when I saw him sitting outside on a log and gazing into the distance, I went out to speak with him and hopefully bring a little cheer. That was the night he gave me this." I touched the stone around my neck, then continued. "He said this stone was special, and that I should never loose it. The next day he was gone.

"I waited and waited for him to return, but he never did. Finally, I decided to use my wish to bring him home. I walked out with Blitz to the forest where we meet Jirachi but just as I was about to make the wish I heard a rustling in the bushes and the shade of my stone changed, as it sometimes does. I took off running, not wanting to get mauled by a big Pokémon. Blitz and I charged through the bushes and didn't stop until we were safe inside. I was ashamed of myself and my stupid paranoid fear. So I refused to wish my father home until I was a strong, fearless trainer."

I stopped talking and grew as silent as a grave, my mouth felt dry and my eyes drifted off into the distance. The fact that my wish was gone had just sunk in. That wish was my only hope of seeing my father again, and now it was gone. I felt like my mind had left my body, that my soul fled away. I felt empty and lost. Perhaps this is how zombies feel, and why they always stare of into nothingness.

"I'm sure he will come back one day." Kendo said, trying to get my hopes up again and raise my spirit from the dust. Blitz reached up and licked my face. Then I heard a small mumble of hope from Agony and lifted my eyes towards her. The older teen was distracted by something outside the ally. Her muscles tensed and her eyes scanned her surroundings fast. Kendo seemed to notice her strange, unsettled mood too. As if she was a mouse hiding from cats. "Well hope your dad comes back or whatever" she said quickly, "and sorry bout almost killing Blitz, you should really train more" She stood straight, glancing down the ally one last time. "Well gatta run. Adios" she called and leapt nimbly on top of the dumpster and hauled herself onto the roof of a building.

Kendo and I watched her go, then turned to each other. I nodded, pushing back the heart wrenching thought of my lost father and jumped to my feet. Kendo did the same and leapt onto the dumpster following Agony. "Blitz return" I whispered. I could hear voices now, and footsteps of people starting down the ally. They must be the reason Agony darted off, and if there was a reason she wanted to avoid them, I figured I did too. I hauled myself onto the dumpster, not possessing the same ranger grace, or street lithe that my friends did. I saw a window with a small ledge and seize my opportunity. Lifting my foot to the ledge and pushing against it, I had the extra boost needed to get to the top of the roof.

"What the heck are we doing?" I whispered. Agony gave me the death glare and put her finger to her lips, a universal signal to be silent. Red and blue lights flooded the ally with their glowing colors and the three of us pressed ourselves against the roof, whishing we could camouflage like keclean. "Police" I whispered. My teeth clamped shut as I bit back a yelp. Agony had kicked my leg to tell my to shut my mouth. Kendo scooted to the edge, wiggling like an ekans. Her chin rested on the end of the roof and her eyes scanned the scene below. Her foot tapped lightly three times in front of us and somehow I knew that meant there were three people. If we each battled one, then there wouldn't be a problem. I gave Kendo's foot a tug to get her attention, then tapped Agony. When I had two pairs of eyes on me, I pulled out Blitz's poke ball and motioned throwing it. The others nodded, and snatched a Pokémon of their own. None of us really liked the idea of hiding in fear on the damp, dreary roof.

"ONE! TWO! THREE! GO!" The three of us tossed our pokeballs into the air and three beams of red light appeared. Then Blitz, Sparks, and Malice joined the police in the ally. Office Jenny whirled around in surprise, her blue hair twirled with her. "Ambush!" she exclaimed, "get ready for a fight" The two other officers that were with her pulled out their own Pokémon, and Jenny sent out a growlithe. "Copy cat" I muttered as I looked for a graceful way down the roof.

"Malice, show em your Crush Caw!" Agony ordered as she slid down the roof. She landing the typical, action movie way with her knees bent and one hand on the ground. Then she rose, rushed off the dirt, and stared officer Jenny right in the eye. The tension grew, then Agony lit herself a cigarette and puffed smoke right in officer Jenny's face. "The police all over the globe are after you!" Jenny spat as she coughed and tried to fan away the smoke with her hand. "They haven't caught me yet!" Agony replied with a smirk and a wink. Officer Jenny's face flushed red with anger, but before she could reply Malice shot forward and performed a beautiful Crush Claw that sent Jenny's Growlithe soaring.

"Get them, Growlithe" The other two officers sent out there Pokémon as well. "Everyone's got Growlithes now-a-days!" A spat angrily as I slid down to the dumpster and then to the ground. Kendo jumped down just like Malice did. "Flame Wheel, Sparks" she ordered. "These growlithes are even weaker then the last one we fought." Knowing she was joking, I glared at her and started my own battle instead of challenging her on the spot.

"Blitz use bite" I called. It finally occurred to me that we were battling police officers. '_I'm so grounded_' I thought to myself. Messing with the cops was not something that the daughter of a popular researcher could get away with easily. _'live a little'_ I bounced back and fourth between my thoughts, then shrugged and stepped into battle. "Duck under and double back around" I called to Blitz as the other growlithe charged us. Blitz did as he was told; ducked out of the way at the last second, turned sharply, and landed a firm bite right on the foe growlithe's hind leg.

"Team up!" Officer Jenny called. Suddenly all three growlithes were bunched up together, snarling furiously. "Team up?" Kendo recommended, so the three of our Pokémon stood side by side. "Snarl back and look tough" I called back, holding in a giggle. It looked as if the officers had no choice but to puff up like ally cats and hope we would feel intimidated. Unfortunately for us, that wasn't exactly their plan. "Team fire blast" Jenny called. Now one wall of fire coming towards you is bad enough, but three at once is horrid.

"Aww Dang" I called "Block it best ya can with yours, Blitz" I recommended as Blitz stepped forward and fire blasted the fire blast. "Join in with Flame Wheel" Kendo called to Sparks, and her Quilava formed a wheel of fire and charged into the triple fire blast. "X-scizzor to block" Agony called. I winced as the blast hit. I could feel the heat from it against my face.

"Blitz" I called, opening my eyes and peering over. The garbage was burning, dumpster up in flames, newspaper pile now ashes, and all of us looked like we were just bulled out of an oven. "Oww owww oowww oww" I yelped as I jumped around like an idiot trying to put out my flaming shirt. "Frost, oxygen build the fire up more" Kendo called as my fire grew bigger. I fell to the floor and rolled around like a phamphy. Then I proceeded to flop around like a magicarp until every ember was out. By the time I stood, I only had half a shirt. The others were hurt two, and the Pokémon were all charred, but they were still ready to fight. We still had a chance until the back up came. When ten more officers pulled up and the ally was blocked, we knew we were in trouble.

The badge really wasn't necessary because we all knew who officer Jenny was, but she still held it out anyways. "My name is Officer Jenny and you three are under arrest" My mind raced with ideas, jail was a gruesome, boring place, and I really wasn't in the mood to go at the moment. "All we did was hang out in an ally, then defend ourselves when faced with unnecessary hostility." I replied, hoping to sound like I actually knew what I was talking about. "You were assisting a wanted criminal" Jenny replied as she pointed. I followed her hand to the criminal, Agony.

"Sure she's got her rough spots here and there, but I wouldn't call her a threat to government security." I said with a smile. I had only known Agony for a few hours, but I still didn't think she seemed like a mega criminal. After all, she had cared when Blitz was hurt, and refused to leave the room when he was fighting for his life. I turned to Kendo to see what she though and her face was as white as a ghost. '_She was a ranger'_ I remembered. Assaulting officers was not typically on a ranger's to do list.

"You have the right to remain silent" Jenny barked out, police code for shut your annoying yap and follow us to the police station. "Alright alright, I surrender" Agony sighed. "I suppose I'm finally caught." She put her hand behinds her back and waited as an officer promptly cuffed her. Then she hung her head, as if in shame and started trudging towards the police car. I couldn't help but notice how closely Malice was following, or the mischievous smirk in both their eyes. I wasn't sure what they were up to, but I was going to follow her lead. If what officer Jenny said was true, she had experience with getting away from the cops.

"Blitz lets go, we don't want to get into any more trouble." I called , then turned to Kendo. "Come on Liz" I called, purposely using a random name. She looked up at me, confused at first. A switch in her mind went of and a grin crept across her face. "Yea Aqua, I guess we should listen to authority. Kendo followed Blitz and I, hoping we had a plan, and I followed Agony, hoping to join in on her escape route.

"In ya go" An officer said as he held open the door. I glared at him, then slid in the seat, preparing myself to run the whole time. Kendo ducked into the car after me, and the officer turned to Agony. "She has to hand over her Pokémon first." Officer Jenny called. I glanced down to my belt and my eyes shot open wide, bursting in shock. My belt, with Blitz's ball attached, was gone. The cops had confiscated my Pokémon as they handcuffed me! Kendo was missing hers too, but unlike me, she didn't seem nearly as surprised. Malice was the only one still out of his ball, and officer Jenny held that in the palm of her hand.

"Now Malice" Agony called just before the red beam of light reached her Pokémon. Malice dodged the return beam and used his razor claws to slash Agony's handcuff chain right in two. My eyes grew wide as I watched from the car. Agony used her free hand to grab her cigarette, walk right up to nurse joy, and puff smoke in her face. Then Agony and Malice were gone like the wind, racing down the street like they were shot out of a canon. I was very impressed with her, but Officer Jenny was not so easily amused.

"Get that criminal!" Jenny shouted. All the officers took of after Agony, waving their little police ticks, which I am yet to understand the purpose for. All the attention was focused on Agony the escape, so I saw our chance. "Move" I hissed in kendo's ear. "Pokémon" she shot back. Our Pokémon were still captured by the iron grasp of Officer Jenny, but I wasn't about to be hauled of to jouvy. "Leave it to me" I replied, and shoved her out of the car. Kendo stared at me, then let out a low, threatening snarl. "Pooch was my partner Pokémon when I was a ranger, no one messes with a ranger's partner and gets away with it." "Just go!" I snapped back, "Follow Agony and I'll get the Pokémon, you can get revenge later!" I pushed her forward and took of the other way. A ranger would be in even more trouble with the police then a researcher's kid. I raced straight towards Jenny, determined not to let my friend down. I would make sure both her and her Pokémon were safe no matter what.

I felt like a ninja as I bolted behind Officer Jenny without her realizing I had left the car. I felt like the queen of shadows as I snuck right behind her. My self pride rose even higher as I grabbed the belts which he had placed on the handle of her motorcycle. However, as Officer Jenny whirled around and held a gun to my head, my self-confidence went down the sewer.

Heart pounding, mind spinning, I desperately tried to figure out what to do. Unlike most action movies however, when faced with a gunpoint, I did not automatically become an evil genius that could escape with every hair on my head safe. "Drop the Pokémon" Jenny commanded. I gulped and looked up at her with truly terrified eyes. The belts slipped out of my sweaty hands and landed right over my shoe. Jenny lowered herself to the ground to retrieve them. Her eyes and the point of her gun stared at me the whole time.

Just as Jenny's hands were about to seize the belts, an idea fluttered in my head like a butterfree fluttering into a garden. I much prefer my ideas quick like a beedrill, but better late then never. I tilted my foot upward slightly and the belts fell back a bit, now touching my leg too. Then with all the speed and force I could muster, I shot my foot up into the air. The Pokémon belts went flying. "Kendo" I hollered, but I couldn't see my friend anywhere. The belts fell to the floor passed the other officers, right where Kendo would have been if she had run like I told her too.

My flailing foot had smacked Officer Jenny right in the face, and now she was very mad, and her face was pure red with anger. Or was it because of the kick? Either was it didn't matter because angry Jenny had my pinned to the ground in moments, holding the gun tight in her hand. "I can have you arrested for officer assault" she snapped. "It was an accident I swear, your face was just in my way." As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized they were the wrong thing to say.

Officer Jenny looked like she was ready to smack my, but that would be against her work ethics. It seemed as if she was going to foam at the mouth and let out a blood-curling snarl. I sealed my eyes shut and braced myself for the worst. If she hurt me, I'd sue her. If I were thrown in jail, I'd annoy the heck out of her till she set me free. I just hoped Kendo got her Pokémon, Agony was free, and one of them would take care of Blitz.

_THUMP! _The loud, startling noise echoed through the ally. Opening one eye, I saw Officer Jenny on the floor beside me unconscious, and Kendo towering over her with an officer's little stick-like tool. "No. One. Messes. With. My. Pokémon." She snarled, then spat on the floor next to where Jenny was lying. I now had both my eyes opened wide and was quite honestly a little frightened as well. For a moment, the world was silent. Then about twenty police officers tackled both of us and we were once again tossed into the car. This time the door was slammed and locked behind us. Someone woke Jenny up, and all the police left the scene. The last thing I saw. Out of the back of the car, was a flash of black and red hair and a white and blue zangoose disappearing into the trees. My belt, and Kendo's were no longer there.

Officer Jenny turned back and glared at us, her face was still completely red. "Hope you two like jail! Don't worry, your friend will be joining you soon enough. I glared back at her. We both had blue hair and a growlihe as a partner. When people match like that, their either best friends or strong enemies. I was more then certain what Jenny and I were. I stuck out my tongue at her, a sigh of utmost disrespect. She glared back. "Just you wait" she muttered. I turned to Kendo, she was no longer fretting about jail, she was just full out mad. Perhaps it would be best to remember never to mess with her Poocheana.


	4. Chapter 4: Freedom Prevails

Grey walls taunted me for hours. Stains of various colors were splattered across the walls, It made me sick to wonder what caused those stains. I sighed and sat down on the lower half of the old, small bunk bed. Erie scratching noises could be heard above, and I knew kendo was carving the roof with the chunk of wire she'd found hidden under the mattress. "Alright I know this isn't the ideal place to be right now, but we can make it work out till were free. Kendo leaned over the bunk and gave me a dead serious stare. She hadn't spoken beyond a few grumbles about Pooch and her other Pokémon. And the 'good for nothing police officers'.

"Kendo" I called in the gentlest voice I could muster, "I'm sorry about this mess, it's kinda my fault. It was my idea to fight anyways." Kendo let out a sigh and laid down on her bed. "Rangers are supposed to protect everyone, not sit in jail." I paused for a moment, "When did you decide to become a ranger?" I wondered, deciding to distract her from her surroundings and missing Pokémon. Kendo began her story, and it was my turn to sit patiently and listen.

"Every kid wants to be a trainer, and their ultimate goal is always to 'be the master.' I, on the other hand, felt like there was more to life then just being the best. I wanted to have a purpose, to help out. I just didn't know a job like that existed. Id never even heard of 'rangers' or 'the union.' When I turned ten, I went off like everyone else to be a trainer and get my own Pokémon. I decided before hand, however, to just have my one Pokémon and not take any others from their natural habitat. I was on my way to the lab when I saw a strange man. Not knowing who he was, I took the other way through the woods, despite my mother's orders.

"About midway through my walk I heard a shirking sound filled with fear and pain. Of course I was afraid, and I nearly turned back, but I kept thinking of what could be making the noise, and why. So I took of running in the direction of the sound. I gasped in surprise when I found the source of the noise. I found a ratatata with a noose around it's neck. The poor thing was trying to escape, but it was just strangling itself and making the problem worse.

"A strong trainer would probably figure its just a ratata and would never be strong. I, however, was horrified. I rushed forward and immediately began to try and free the poor thing. Filled with fear, it bit me. Quickly I drew my finger to my mouth and sucked on it for a moment, but the bite wasn't that bad, so I set back to work again. The bite had showed how scared the poor creature was and I was even more determined to free it.

"I began to talk aloud to the ratata, almost trying to force my strong feelings of friendship onto it. While I spoke I worked with the trap and finally I pinned ratata down and pulled the noose of it's neck. The little Pokémon looked up at me with thankful eyes and I felt like I had finally done something good. After scanning it's neck for injuries, I let it go and even helped it take its first steps back into freedom. Ratata shot back one final look of gratitude, then took off. When it was gone I rose to my feet and wrapped my hand without even wincing, then shouldered my pack with a smile. Turing around to head back, I came face to face with the man.

He opened his mouth to say something, but, thinking he was a poacher I had already switched into fighting stance. I had his face nearly memorized and could report him to the cops. I could probably outrun him too. He looked back at me, clearly surprised, and then he laughed. He showed me his badge and explained that he was a ranger. Of course, he then had to explain what a ranger was. I interrogated him with all kind of questions.

"The man explained how he had seen me get bit and was about to step in when I fixed the problem myself. After hearing his explanation and all about the rangers, I continued on my way. I was extremely happy to have finally found the perfect job for me, something that passed my wildest imagination. He informed of the ranger school, and said that if I wanted to go, he would take me there. That school wasn't something he was aloud to tell just anyone about."

Kendo trailed of into thought and I let her reminisce in old memories for a while. Her story was inspirational, and I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps being a Pokémon trainer was wrong. When we capture Pokémon, we do take them out of their natural habitat. Sure we care for them and train them, but what if they had a family, what if they never wanted to battle. Right there and then, I decided to not capture a Pokémon against its will and let it chose to come with me or not.

The story Kendo had told made me realize what it really meant to be a ranger. It was truly helping out Pokémon and doing what's best. My eyes moved to the corner of the jail. Outside of our cell, tucked away in a shelf, were our bags. An officer must have grabbed them during the chaos. Agony's bag was missing, she must have snagged it before they could. My bag was filled with Pokefood for Blitz, as well as his favorite flavor of treats. It drove me wild to not know where my little friend was, or if he was safe. Pokémon protection was very important to me, perhaps I was a bit like Kendo and had a future in helping Pokémon. "Kendo" I called again as a sudden thought crossed my mind. "You said you used to be a ranger, what happened that made you leave?"

Kendo opened her mouth to answer but then her voice trailed off. Her eyes had fallen upon Officer Jenny, who was now walking out of the back room, past our cell, and to the office. "Wait here" Kendo hissed and before I could as any questions she lept from the top bunk, landed on her feet like a glameow would, then rocketed off to the bars of the cell. "Jenny, we need to talk." She said, her voice had a strange authority that I hadn't heard before. Kendo snatched something from her shirt pocket and showed it to Jenny. I couldn't tell what it was, but it apparently meant a lot to the police officer because the second she saw it she started thumbing through her keys to find the one to our cell.

Kendo slipped out but the door was closed before I could even stand up. Jenny motioned Kendo to another room and Kendo glanced one last reassuring look at me before leaving me alone in jail. "_She is coming back…"_ I muttered to myself again and again, trusting that my friend wouldn't leave me alone in jail. Minutes felt like hours though.

"Step on out, time for a phone call." An officer unlocked the cell again and motioned for me to step out. I did as I was told, and followed each order obediently, as I stood by the phone, about to dial my number, I coated my voice with innicense and looked at him with soft, sweet eyes. "Excuse me officer, but do you know where my friend went?" "She's talking with Jenny in the conference room." He replied, thinking a fifteen year old girl wouldn't be able to make use of the information. He was wrong.

The secound the words were out of his mouth I took off running. He got over his shock faster then I expected and bolted out the door after me. Three more guards jumped into action and blocked my route. I could see the door marked Conference room, but I couldn't reach it. Still, I wa running from the cops already, and had worked up an adrenoline rush, so I wasn't about to stop. Heels spinning, feet sliding, I turned around the corner and bolted down the hall. There was an air vent just the right size for a teenage girl, so I opened it up and wiggled through.

The shouts behind me echoed through the vent and I could hear the sounds of the guards trying to cram themselves in. My lean figure came in handy, as well as the cops' cravings for dounuts. The air vent was tight and hot, as well as very noisy despite all my efforts to be quiet. Whenever a turn approached, I tried my best to think about where I was in the building. It was like a giant maze and If I made one wrong turn, I couldn't turn around.

"So your mission is to capture Agony?" I heard Officer Jenny's voice and scooted silently to the source, through the small little window like thing on my vent, I could see her tall, blue haired figure, as well as a teen girl with black hair and red tips, Kendo. "Befriend her, then lure her into a trap!" Kendo replied, "It was going great until you ruined it." Her voice was filled with aggression as she glared at Jenny, I stifeled a gasp. "The ranger union didn't inform me of your mission, I couldn't have known about it. Still, you could have confronted me in the ally instead of attacking, that wasn't very ranger-like." "If I confronted you, Agony would have been suspicious, if were going to catch this criminal, I need to have her complete trust. Now just let Frost and I go, I'll look for Agony again and hopefully make her arrest soon enough." Jenny let out a sigh, seeming still to want to argue, but she motioned for a guard to escort Kendo back to me, then release both of us.

"TRAITOR!" I exclaimed, unable to contain myself any longer. Jenny whirled around and spotted my face through the air vent. I cursed under my breath, knowing there was no escaping now. Within seconds her police mode kicked in and she ripped open the vent. Two hands hauled me out. "How much did you here?" she asked with a firm, angry look. "How did you get here? You should be in your cell!" She kept yelling at me without giving me a chance to answer. The slowpoke guards finally made their way over to the conference room, ready to seize me.

"Take her away, ignore the previous orders to release her, this one isn't going anywhere!" I struggled against the guards, trying to bite their fingers as they grabbed my arms. "Lemme go!" I screamed, Kicking and thrashing about in their grasp. Officer Jenny stepped towards me and crouched down so we were eye to eye. "Your going to go back to your cell like a good little girl and stay there until the mission is clear, got that?" I spit in her face for a reply. Enraged, it seemed like the police officer was going to smack me. If she was, she never got the chance. The moment she whipped my spit from her face, the entire building turned pitch black.

"What happened to the lights?" "Someone check the power source!" "The timing here is just horrible." "Must everything happen at once?" The officers murmured back and forth to each other as they tried to feel their way around the room for the light switch. My plan was far to rash, and I wiggled free with no where to go. At that point it was like a giant game of sharks and minnows, except I was the only minnow in a sea of sharks, and all of us were blind. Doge to the left, duck down, jump to the right; avoiding each officer was impossible, I wish I had cat eyes and could see through the dark. Unfortinatly I didn't have echolocation like a zubat either.

"Got her!" "That's me idiot!" "Oww you kicked me!" All the officers were turning out to be my only advantage. I had climbed on top of a desk and was sitting there, listing to the officers hustle about grabbing one another. "Frost! Where are you!" Kendo's voice rang through the hall. A light flashed into the room, and there was Kendo holding a flashlight, two officers were with her. "There you are!" she exclaimed, her voice truly sounded relived, like she had actualy been worried, instead of a big lying turncoat. "Come on, were both getting out of here!" she announced, but officer Jenny stepped infront of me. "She's staying here" she snapped. Kendo opened her mouth in protest, but only the sound of breaking glass filled the air.

"Miss me?" Agony asked as she leapt through the shattered window. Malice was at her side, as well as very powerful looking raichu. "Get that girl" Officer Jenny called as the four beams of light turned to Agony. With all the light centered on her, it seemed like she was on a stage. Her and her Pokémon certainly did put on a performance. The raichu shot bolts of lighting in every direction, giving a few police officers an unexpected jolt. I leapt up from my spot on the desk and jumped into action, leaping through the air and delivering a kick to an officer who was rusing towards agony. 'You came back!" I exclaimed as I made my way to her side. "Obviously" she replied with a roll of her eyes. Malice rushed around, threatening officers off with his claws and slashing at whomever didn't head the warning.

"Lights out!" Kendo exclaimed, she flicked of her flashlight and one by one the other lights went out with sounds of bracking flashlights or batteries spilling to the floor. Now the only light was the electric bolts from Raichu. Varying lightning bolts created a strobe light effect as they flashed again and again. In one instant I could see officer Jenny whirling to face us, her hair beating against her face, her eyes filled with pure hate. In the next flash she was running towards us, through the kahos and commotion. Another flash, and I could see her advancing even closer, look of determination clear on her face. Agony was distracted by another cop, and I had no place to flee to. Next flash; Jenny lunged. I felt myself being rammed into, the air knocked out of my lungs. I fell to the floor, which was covered by as blanket of broken glass.

Some strange force pushed the weight off me. I fell into unconsiosness as I heard shouts and screams of Jenny. Just before I closed my eyes, I caught a glimpse of black hair with red tips, and I knew who my rescuer was.

"Come on Frost" Agony muttered as she heaved me up of the ground, I stumbled for a moment, staggering around as I tried to remember what was going on. I had little time to recover after my moment of uncounsisness, because as soon as I was on my feet, I was shoved out a two story window. "Ahhhhh!" I flailed my arms and screamed my head of as I fell, but of course I landed on the one and only Pokémon trampoleen; snorelax.

Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! I was shot in the air a few more times before I finaly lost all the momentem and landed soundly on Snorlax's tummy. Kendo helped me down with a smug grin, "You shoulda seen your face." I glared at her, as she thrashed her arms and put on a overly dramatic, terrifed face. I was not at all amused by the mocking. "Letss move gang" Agony's voice sounded powerful and strong, like she had just been elected sergant or something. She leapt from the window with Malice on one side and Raichu on the other. After a few bounces of her own, she slid of the big lazy Pokémon, whom was still sleeping, and took of running. We chased her and, of course, cops flooded from the building and began to chase us.

"Hey guys, gatcha something" Agony called from over he shoulder. My heart filled with excitement as I sawb my belt hurl through the air. I leapt into the clouds to reach it, and Kendo dove to catch her own belt. "Sweet" she called the secound she held her own Pokémon again. I felt the same way, complete again. "Lets run Blitz" I called and let my buddy loose. If we were ganna run for our lives, might as well do it together. Kendo statched two balls from her own belt as she fastened it to her waist. Pooch appered on her shoulder, and Sparks at her side. The cops hollored noisily and some of them had hopped on their motercycles before giving chase.

Agony lead us quickly to the left, then spun us to the right, and continued the sharp zigzag pattern in an attemot to loose the officers. She weaved through trees and we even darted through a busy street, but the officers were glued to our heels. "There gaining and we can't shake em" Agony called, scaning her mind for more options. "No problem" Kendo replied with a smirk. For a moment I rememberd all the times she had helped me out, and how she had saved me, now twice, from the wrath of officer Jenny. Could it all really be fake? Part of her mission? When Kendo stopped suddenly and whirled to face the cops, I didn't know what to think. "Sparks" she said, her voice filled with the sinister feeling of her next move. Everyone froze when they saw the evil grin. Not one officer moved. They were all only about five feet from Kendo, and she was a good twenty behind the rest of us. "Eruption!"

With that simple word, all peace was lost. Quilava performed his most powerful move, and probably the most powerful move I've seen. Lava went everywhere. Officers ran for the hills, the ground before us melted, and we had to duck ofr cover as fire rained down from the sky. I stared on with giant, meteor sized eyes, and Agony was just as stunned as well. "lets move" Kendo called merrily as she and Sparks darted towards us again. I stared, open-jawed at the scene of destruction she had left behind. I could help but notice how no one was badly injured. Was this all a hoax or did Kendo truly just burn down the jailhouse to save us.

"Come on Frost" Agony and Kendo called my name in unision and I whirled around, they were standing side by side like best friends and motioning for me to hurry. "There not enemies? Are they Blitz?" My voice was practicly silent, barely shaking Blitz's ear drum. He looked up at me as if I was nuts, then darted after the others. I followed without another thought.

"That was a close one!" Kendo sighed as we all sat down under the cover of the trees, cloaked in the beauty of a full moon. "You guys are lucky I came back." Agony smirked, clearly convinced that we would all be jail birds forever if it wasn't for her saving us. "We were actualy on our way out" Kendo said with a chuckle, then stopped and glanced at me, "Well at least I was, for some reason Jenny wouldn't let Frost leave." Without skipping a beat, I shot back a reply. "Think about it, we both have blue hair, both have a growlithe, shes twice my age, and still I'm the better of the two." My friends rolled their eyes, and Kendo mentained nothing about my easdroppping. That either meant that she didn't know, or she was to wise to say she did."

"Hey Agony, whats with the Raichu?" I questioned, hoping to escape my mind, and the doubts I had for my friend. Agony smiled and reached out a hand, resting it on her powerfull electric Pokémon. Name's Mizuki, and he's been my partner since he was a pichu and since the day I started training." I looked at Mizuki, then Malice, "So he's your first Pokémon?" I wondered. "Kept him hidden all this time?" Asked Kendo. Agony nodded, and pulled out a black pokeball. Normaly he hangs in here till fights get nasty, but this time he was actiolay stowed away with the gramps." "Your grandparents had him?" "Yup, we predicted some trouble, and in case the cops gatta holda' me, I needed to make sure my stuff was in a safe place. Before Kendo or I could ask any questions, Agony pulled put out a rolled up paper from her bag. As she rolled it out before us, I was more confused then ever.

The document was a map, but not just any map, it was a map of the entire world, and it was covered with dots of various colors, like rainbow ice cream had dribbled all over it. "Theses dots," Agony's finger hoped from one red speck to another, "these are all the wealthy people who own Pokémon." My heart skipped a beat, if Kendo really was on a mission to bring Agony down, then these next few moments could be the end. "The color red stands for an abusive owner, and pink stands for kind owners. My eyes spotted only a few pink dots in an ocean of red. "That's horrible!" I exclaimed, to shocked to devise a plan to get Kendo away from Agony. Neaarly every wealthy Pokémon owner was abusing their Pokémon, but that wasn't the worst of it.

"Green dots, are the non wealthy Pokémon owners, dark green are abusive, and light green are not." She pointed her finger to more dots around the world, the numbers wernt as sivere, but still made me sick. "These statisics weren't the same a year ago." Kendo piped up, her eyes were wide and she looked like she was about to murder someone. Turncoat or not, she was still a Ranger, and it was her job to protect everyone, especially Pokémon. "They weren't the same six mounths ago." Agony corrected. "Whats so different between six mounths and today?" I asked, my voice weak and heavy with greif. "Shinys" The answer nearly made me puke. Neither Kendo or I could speak, so Agony rose to her feet, strolled over to Malice, and began to speak.

"For unkown reasons, over the last few mounths the ratio of shinys has increased. Before it was an extremely rare treat to obtain a shiny Pokémon, now, any old shiny can be pearchased with ease on your local black market. Trainers who were once compassionate, have morphed into greedy, obsessive collecters who search out shinys. "Malice here was rescued, or as the cops say 'stolen' from one of the abusive owners. Over the past two mounths I've been hoping from house to house trying to do a jail break by freeing all the abused Pokémon I can. I normaly don't keep them for myself, but Malice was in such a poor condition that I had to take him and nurse him back to health.

My respect for Agony had just sky rocketed. There was no way Kendo could take her to prision now! She had saved countless Pokémon, even if it wasn't in a civil manner, that still deserved a trophy in my book. "I'm still drawing a blank to the cause of the shiny outbust, but perhaps the Ranger Union might know." I glanced up at Kendo, expecting her to reply, but she returned my look with a puzzled on of her own. "Im an ex-ranger" she reminded me, then turned to Agony, "If I was still in with the Rangers, I might know something about this. Perhaps theres a way I can still get some information though."

I rose to my feet and faced Agony, "let me help! My mom's a resercher, I'll send her all the information on the shinys and perhaps she can pull an explination together. Hesitation filled Agony's face, and her eyes shot a glance at her map, then at her Pokémon. "That maps got all my hit locations, and all the places I've yet to hit. If anyone gets ahold of it, the cops can figure out my route and possible get that much closer to catching me. "My mom wont" I resured her, praying silently that Kendo would keep this zip too. "Good reserchers never share information till the investigations complete." I promised, not relizing those words would bounce right back to bite me.

"That's why I'm not sharing" Agony announced as she rolled up her map. If you two wanna help then be my guests, I figured, now that your hard core and the cops are after you, might as well make it all worth while. I strolled over to my backpack, which Kendo had snagged from the prison before we escape. Inside was the camera my mother had given me. "Keep the map secret, but let me at least take a picture of the shinys, and tell her about the outburst, she can go her own way with her own findings. Agony finally agreed, and I shot a quick picture of Malice. The photo came out immediately and I scribbled some notes on the back of it. This was the one time it was a blessing to have handwriting that only a mother can read.

"She should write back soon, or call." I said as I sealed the photo in an envelope and stuffed it in my bag. I'd mail it as soon as we got into the next town. "Where to next Agony?" I asked, "Actualy, I kinda came here to hide from the cops" she admitted "The map of this place isn't to good, because the region is still developing. However, If my hunch is correct, this is the origin point of most of the shinys." "So we walk blindly till we figure out where were going?" Kendo guessed. Agony nodded and the three of us grabbed out bags. I felt the cumbersome box in my bag, and suddenly relized why I started this journey in the first place. "Remember Kendo, we still have to deliver those packages to Alex in Soceo City." I reminded her. After I spoke, I rembered thet the delivering was my mission, her mission was to bring down Agony. Part of me had no doubt that Kendo was as loyal as a police dog and that she would never betray a friend, but the other of me knew she was a pro ranger, and couldn't help but wonder if what she had told Jenny was true. In case it was, I'd watch her like a hawk.


	5. Chapter 5: Persian Lost

Redwood trees towered before us, reaching up to the clouds like a long skinny arm, trying to touch the sky. I had never seen trees like these, they seemed as if they wore their leaves as a royal cape. On top of one of the trees as a Ferrow nest, and it looked as if it was the tree's crown. "We've been this way before" Kendo muttered. Our little group had been wondering idly around the redwoods for over an hour. "No we haven't" Agony argued. I quite honestly didn't care if we were doing zigzags, circles, or figure eights in this forest. I felt like I was on an expedition. With my camera around my neck and my adventure mood switched on, I could roam the woods for hours.

"Stop" Kendo exclaimed, freezing in her tracks. She stood silently as if she was waiting for something. We froze too, for a moment at least. Then for some reason I got the idea that we all were sudowoods because we were standing stone still in a forest of trees as if we were trying to blend in. So of course, because of my hyper, overly happy mood about traveling with my two best friends, (even if one might be a traitor) and roaming through trees, I couldn't help but scream out "SUDOWOODO" In a horrible impersonation of the voice of a soodowoodo. "Frost!" Agony and Kendo both shot me a stern look as they scolded me. I simply busted out laughing and watched all the bird Pokémon fly from the tree tops and flutter away from the loud obnoxious soodowood-impirsinator.

"Frost you freaking idiot, I heard something…" Kendo muttered. A pout formed on my face and I sat down on the root of the tree. "Alright alright, I'm calm." I said. That statement turned into a lie about two seconds later when about a dozen mighteanas appered out of no where and snarled at us. "Snickerdoodles" I breathed as I stared at all the angrey wolf-like Pokémon. "If anyone has any cookies, surrender them now and maybe they will leave us alone." Agony gave me a death glare, like she was really sick of my mood, then she puffed her cigarette calmly and whipped out a pokeball. Malice popped , claws shimmering in the afternoon sun, ready for a fight.

"Back away, act submissive, show them that we aren't a threat, stay calm." Kendo listed of all the things that we should do, but I was with Agony on this one. "Its game time!" I exclaimed and Blitz appeared from the red glow of the ball, looking up at all the wolf Pokémon. He snarled back, but being more of a puppy size, and being alone, he wasn't as threatening as all of the mighteanas.

A long, surrendering sigh escaped Kendo and she unhooked some of her pokeballs from her belt. "Alright, we have six Pokémon between us, and there are twelve of them." She noted, scanning the scene for a chance of escape, not wishing to get into a fight unless absolutely necessary.

"Show time, Malice" Agony exclaimed. Her eyes scanned all the snarling animals, planning the best method of attack. Before Agony could bark out a command, however, one of the mighteana lunced forward and pinned Malice to the ground. "Crush Claw" Agony decided, and with glowing claws, Malice smashed into the Mighteana and hurled the big canine Pokémon off him. Then he rused forward to further his attack.

Another wolf Pokémon leapet towards him, about to tackle Malice, but Kendo wasn't going to let that happen. "Get em Manectric!" The other canine Pokémon appered, and was more then happy to attack the mighteana. At that point, all sanity was lost. The remaining Mighteans all shot forward and the whole plase was like a mash pit of Pokémon fighting. "Fire Blast" I called to Blitz as I joined the fray. "Flame Wheel!" I head Kendo's voice and saw Sparks blasting into a mighteana with a powerful flame wheel. "Volt Tackle!" Glancing over I could see that Agony had Mizuki out and he was taking care of another mighteana. Things were going great till more Pokémon dropped from the redwood trees.

Nuzleaf, Tailow, Cascoon, Beedrill, and just about any other Pokémon you can find in a forest were suddenly surrounding us. _Were dead! _ I thought to myself, but instead of saying that aloud, I acted like I actualy had a bit of confidence in me. Perhaps if I pretended I did, then the others would gain real confidence. "Alright, fire types, aka Blitz and Sparks, battel the grass types. Mizuki and Manectric can take on the flying types…." My voice trailed of as more and more Pokémon stepped forward. I stammered trying to regain my forged confidence. Unfortunately all my acting skills vanished and I was left standing with a stunned and terrified look.

"Capture on!" The two words took me by supprise and I looked up to see Kendo standing on a big root to get a better view of the scene. She had her capter styler firmly gripped in her hands, and she stared at all the Pokémon like she was on a mission. A beam of light circled a group of Pokémon as Kendo twirled her wrist. Her face was tight with focase, and her poocheana was at her side, ready to lend a paw. The streak of light grew tight aound the Pokémon, then dissapered. All there Pokémon were instantly calmed. Without skipping a beat, Kendo began capturing another group.

"Agony!" I called, getting my friend's attention. When her eyes were on me I pointed at Kendo. Agony understood perfectly and called her Pokémon back. We were just getting in Kendo's way. The two of us fought our way through the raging Pokémon and stood to the side as Kendo took control. Glowing rings surrounded Pokémon by the dozens until every single one had been captured. "Go on back to the woods, we won't do any harm" Kendo promised. The Pokémon looked at her with trusting eyes, then one by one turned and left.

"That was pretty darn epic." Agony said, puffing out a breath of smoke from her cigarette. My eyes were filled with excitement and I could barely hold myself back from jumping up and punching the air. "You rock Kendo! That capture was epic!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the grim reality swept over me. '_An ex-ranger wouldn't have a stylus. So if Kendo has one, she must really still be a ranger…' _ I realized. That thought washed away all my joy like a big wave washes away a sandcastle.

"They won't come back" Kendo promised, seeing the sudden lack of joy in my face. "They must have gotten upset because we were on their territory, still though, I've never seen the whole forest go into attack mode. Something's defiantly wrong. Lets keep moving." Kendo turned, leapt of the big root, and kept walking in the direction we were going. Agony followed and after a moment of hesitation, I trailed along too. I couldn't help but notice, however, the flash of a light purple and pinkish color that took over the stone in my necklace. Before I could begin to worry about it, however, the color was gone, replaced by the familiar icy blue.

"Welcome to Redwood Village!" A cheery voice filled the air and I was dragged from my random thoughts. Infront of us was a cheery teen girl, about our age or slightly younger. She had dark brown hair, decorated with streaks of purple. Her eyes matched the streaks almost perfectly. "You the official greeter in this tree town?" Agony asked, bluntly. All the walking, plus the over territorial Pokémon, had ruined all of our good moods. None of us were really ready for the giant bundle of happiness now standing before us. "My name's Fiarya" she continued, ignoring Agony's bitterness. The girl stepped to the side, revealing a group of houses that we hadn't noticed before. "This is Redwood Village!"

It was quite clear how the village got it's name, especially considering the fact that we walked through miles of those dang trees to get here. Every single house was made from redwoods. Even the quaint little Pokémon center in the middle was a log cabin with leaves covering the roof. Trees surrounded the whole town like a giant gate, they were bunched tightly together, like they were trying to lock something out, or keep something in. There was only one small opening in the trees that aloud people to get in and out of the town, and that opening was the way we had come in.

"Do you know why the Pokémon in the forest are acting so territorial at the moment?" Kendo asked Fiarya, not wasting any time in getting to the bottom of the mystery. Fiarya didn't seem at all surprised by the question. "They have been like that for quite some time now, no one really knows why. Some people say there guarding some strange, rare Pokémon." "That makes sense" Kendo thought aloud, "but what Pokémon are they guarding…" "I know someone who can answer that for you." Fiarya said after a short pause, then turned and headed for one of the houses, motioning for us to follow.

"Misses Megan!" The call echoed through the little wood house and a reply came from the back of the room. "Come in deary" Fiarya stepped in and held the door open for us as well. I felt strange entering a stranger's house, especially with the little voice in the back of my mind that kept whispering I was on the police's most wanted list. The aroma of mangos filled the house and I notced a fresh, warm pie on the counter. Steam still wafted off it. The rocking chair squeaked as it rocked back and forth, an old lady was sitting comfortably in it, and Fiarya walked right up to her.

"These trainers were asking about the territorial Pokémon." Fiarya explained as she gently shook the old lady's shoulder to get her attention. "Ah, ah, sit down dearies, old Megan will tell you what she saw, ah, ah, ah." I hesitated before walking over to the couch to sit, it always made me a little confused when people referred to themselves by their own name when they could say 'I.' The fact that the lady kept saying 'ah' didn't help me relax either, but still, I sat on the couch to listen to what she had to say. My friends sat down beside me and as soon as we were all seated, the old lady began.

"A few weeks ago I was walking through the woods on an evening stroll with my faithful Persian. We were feeding the pidgeys and the tailows and the starlys and all the other little bird Pokémon. Then Persian went tense, as if he heard something. His tail twitched and he let out a warning _mroww_. All the sweet sweet sweet little birds flew away, and even I could sense something strange there, something very strange, dearies.

"Then I saw a purple Pokémon, or was it pink? Well well either way it looked weak and sick. It flew through the air, but it didn't have any winds and it wasn't one of the sweet sweet little birdy Pokémon that I usually feed. The Pokémon let out some high pitched mewing sound, then it fell to the floor. Brave little Persian ran up to it, and when I stepped closer my old friend growled at me. I couldn't get Persian to come home, so I had to head back without him. The poor little dear still hasn't come home, and all the Pokémon have been moody since that day."

All of us were quiet for a moment, I could see the gears turning in Kendo's head, Agony too was deep in thought, Fiarya seemed to have heard the story before, so she was just looking at all of our reactions, praying that we knew what to do. My own thoughts flashed back to my necklace. For some reason, the stone changes color when a strange Pokémon is around. "We've got to help the sick Pokémon" Agony exclaimed suddenly. Kendo nodded in agreement "and find the missing Persian" she added in. I looked at my two friends, they were both so in love with Pokémon, and would do anything to save them. They just had slightly different styles of doing so. How could Kendo possible be planning to betray us? It just didn't make sense.

"Coming Frost?" Kendo called, her voice was filled with concern, and I could see a question in her eyes. Agony was already out the door, along with Fiarya, Kendo was waiting for me. "yea" I said and pulled myself from my thoughts. "You've been kinda, distracted lately." Kendo noted as I reached the door. "Just thinking 'bout stuff." My answer was completely honest as well as broad. I wasn't going to confess I thought my friend was a turncoat. "I'm here if ya need to talk" she replied before closing the door of the cabin and heading after the others. It made me sick to think that I wasn't able to trust her, no matter how much I wanted too.

No matter how much we wanted to solve this mystery, we had to wait. It would be cruel to go out into the woods again without giving our Pokémon a chance to rest first, so we dropped them off at the Pokémon center with Nurse Joy. If we ran into more aggressive Pokémon in the forest we would need our own Pokémon in the best condition.

"I'll take you to the spot where the Pokémon are normally the most aggressive, that's most likely around where the sick Pokémon is." Fiarya decided, the forest was a confusing place, so all of us were happy to have someone who could show us the way. "So Fiarya, do you live here?" Kendo wondered. "Kinda, I'm here for a while visiting my aunt, she's setting up a gym here and I've been helping out." "Is she the leader?" Agony wondered, Fiarya nodded and that made Agony smirk. "I'll take her on after this little expedition." She decided, "It might be fun to collect some badges."

I headed to the vending machine to get some water, the others were sitting in the chairs of the lounge relaxing for a few minutes. All of our Pokémon were out of their balls and eating a snack of pokefood. Blitz had wolfed his down right away, just barely losing his eating race against mighteana. "Hey buddy, almost ready?" I asked as he trotted over to join me. "Growl!" he replied, which sounded to me like 'heck yea!' I smiled and pet his head until the water clanged out of the machine. I chugged half of it, then poured the other half down Blitz's mouth. Looking over at the others, they all seemed to be ready too.

"Lets beat em to the trees" A called to Blitz, then the two of us raced out the doors of the Pokémon center and through the village. Shouts from Nurse Joy could be heard behind us, apparently there was a no running rule in the center, who knew? My friends all scurried out the door after us as we ran. Pokémon were returned to their Pokeballs one by one, until each of us had only one out. I had Blitz of course, Kendo had Poocheana, Agony had Malice, and Fiarya had an umbreaon. The eight of us made quite a team. Whatever Pokémon was hurt, we'd save it.

"Geez Frost, next time give us some warning before you take off!" Fiarya panted as she and the others caught up with me at the start of the forest. "Spur of the moment." I replied, sharing a small smile with Blitz. There was nothing more to say so without further hesitation, we set of to begin our quest. Fiarya took the lead and the rest of us followed at her heels.

"About a half a mile from the village is where the Pokémon are the worst." Fiarya xpllained as she lead us through the maze of redwoods. "We walked more then a half of a mile after the attack" Kendo argued. I'm not sure how she figured that, to me it was no certain distance, just one step after another after another. "I know the shortest way, most people wonder though the woods for a while, the majority never even stumble upon the village."

As we walked, our eyes fluttered to every tiny movement. We were overly paranoid, searching for some hostile Pokémon, the missing persion, and the strange, sick creature that caused it all. "Theres no Pokémon in sight." Agony pointed out. We had reached the spot that Fiarya had told us about, but nothing was attacking us. I personally was fine with the fact that we weren't under ambush, but the others were rather disappointed. If the Pokémon weren't attacking, then the strange one might not be around here after all.

From the overpowering amount of sighs and pouts, I knew we had all been thinking the same thing; legendary. It wouldn't make sense for the entire forest to go through such extremes to protect one little wounded Pokémon. Everything should be treated equally, but that's not always the case. Some Pokémon are considered more powerful and higher ranking over others, even tough any could be great. If a legendary was present in the forest, and wounded, it explained everything. Not to mention the fact that seeing a legendary would be a once in a lifetime treat, because they are so rare.

A faint glow of pink and purple caught my attention. From the corner of my eye I could see the colors changing in my necklace. Pink and purple; those were the colors Misses Megan had used to describe the strange Pokémon. "Growl?" I looked down to see Blitz bracing himself to run. He could sense the presence of something, and noticed my necklace as well. For the past few years, whenever the color changed, it was a sure sigh that we were going to bolt; but not today.

"Find it, Blitz" I told be faithful companion. He gave me the most confused look I had ever seen and didn't even budge. Blitz normally always listened no matter how crazy I sounded. "Search Pooch!" Kendo's poocheana hoped of her shoulders and took of through the trees. Blitz was still immobile. If he wasn't going to start looking, I was. I may not have a keen sense of smell or sharp hearing like the dog Pokémon did, but I had a type of a compass that no one else did. The closer I got to the strange Pokémon, the brighter the stone around my neck would glow.

"EEEEEKKKK" Fiarya let out a startled screech as Pokémon suddenly surrounded her. It was an ambush more intense then before, it was as if they had called in backup, and now there were twice as many Pokémon in the woods as there were earlier. Fiarya's umbreaon blasted a few Pokémon with shadow ball, then rammed a few more. Soon however, he was tackled and buried under a bunch of wild Pokémon and Malice surged forward to free him.

"Stay calm, I'll capture them" Kendo called as she leapt onto a root to get a better view, as she had done before. This time, however, whenever she tried to capture one group of Pokémon, another would stubble in her way. The ones that got in her way the most were our own. "Stop spazzing out!" Kendo called again as she waved her styler through the air. About two dozen were captured in one swift movement. "Hold the others back" she called to her newly befriended Pokémon, as she started to catch more. I had never seen a ranger so skilled, she must have been a high rank, or perhaps still is.

"Blitz come!" I called, I had no interest in helping out in the fray, and apparently neither did Agony. The older, Pokémon robin hood called Malice over as well as she began searching through the trees. Kendo and Fiarya could handle the rampaging Pokémon just fine, the real problem was saving the wounded legendary. "Mew has to be around here somewhere!" Agony growled in frustration as she scanned each tree completely then bolted to the next. "How do you know its mew?" I wondered. She replied with a blank look and the know-it-all response; "common sense." I suppose she was right, mew fit the description perfectly. It was the most logical suspect.

"Rrrrrr" I could here a low rumble come from Blitz. He was out of my sight, and I thought perhaps he had found mew. I bounded towards his voice, but slowed when I noticed that the purple and pink were fading from the stone the farther I went. Blitz couldn't have found mew. "grrr" The call came again, more urgent this time. I had to trust my Pokémon, not my necklace. "You keep looking!" I called to Agony, "I have to see what's gotten into Blitz."

I dashed through the trees, weaving around one red wood after another. I felt like a rattata trapped in an endless maze. "Blitz" I hollered, then waited for a response. My only guide was the sound of his voice because I still couldn't see him. "_how far could he have gone?' _ I wondered. The typical shade of blue had returned to the stone, and I realized once again I had ran from the color change. One of these days I ha to figure out what the stone really meant, it was more advanced then a simple mood necklace. I had always considered it as a warning sign because the times I didn't run, strange Pokémon came to attack me. Since the first few encounters, I decided it was best to always run the moment it changed.

"Blitz!" I exclaimed when I saw him. My feet sped up and I raced towards my beloved Pokémon. Just before I reached him a sharp yowl pierced the trees and Blitz was tackled by a tan blur. "Kick 'em off!" I called, jumping up on the tips of my toes to catch a better look at the fight. Blitz tussled around, the other Pokémon was bigger, but he was stronger. They rolled over a few times, I could see my orange and red partner pinning the tan Pokémon, in a minute Blitz was the one being pinned.

The tan creature had a long skinny body with broad shoulders and four paws. Its head was lowered as it tried to grab Blitz by the scruff of his neck. I could make out a slim, narrow tail and protruding ribs. The tail twitched in annoyance and I heard a yowl as Blitz rolled over and managed to pin it down again. "Let him go, Blitz." I called, "That's miss Meagan's Persian."

Blitz stepped of and let the half starved Pokémon stand. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days. Dark bags under his eyes told of his horrid sleep habits. The poor think must not have slept a wink since he raced off. "You were protecting mew, weren't you?" I asked as calmly as possible. I lowered myself to the floor and inched forward slowly. When I was as close as I could get without upsetting the Persian, I got to my knee and held out a hand. "We won't hurt you or mew, you have to go back to your home now, alright? We will make sure mew is alright." Persian stopped for a moment; I held my breath. It seemed as if time everywhere had frozen as the panther like Pokémon reviewed my words in his head. "Please trust me" I whispered, then he lunged.

"Capture on!" Kendo appred out of nowhere and stepped in front of me, shielding me from the attack. The Persian skidded to a stop when he saw Kendo, then he snarled threateningly. My heart sank. Here I was on my knee pleading to gain the trust of Pokémon and almost getting myself killed in the process. It would only take a few good bites and slashes to kill me, and if Kendo hadn't showed up that Persian could have given me those bites and slashes. I watched the beam of light shoot out, and Kendo twirl her stylis. In a state of daze I watched the circle of light tighten around Persian, and saw the crazed look vanish from his eyes.

"Frost you idiot!" Kendo scolded as she looked down at me. Her eyes were firm and filled with anger, but the rage was just a mask for another emotion, fear. I knew to well then to believe a ranger would be afraid of an angry Persian. Kendo's fear had been for me, she had been afraid of me getting hurt. If anyone could care that much about someone, they couldn't possible be planning to betray them. There was no way Kendo was a turncoat. How could I have ever doubted her?

"Kendo I'm sorry!" I exclaimed as I stumbled to my feet. She was totally clueless as to what I was sorry about, I could see the surprised expression on her face. Whipping the dirt from my knees, I stepped forward. "I heard you talking to Jenny and thought you were a traitor. I know I never should have doubted you, but it just all made such sense. You could have earned Agony's trust then sent her to jail!" A small amused grin slipped across Kendo's face and then it was my turn to be surprised. "That explains why you've been acting a little funny, like you were judging everything I did. It also explained why Jenny wasn't going to let you come, she knew you heard. Come on though Frost, you have to be able to trust me. I said all those things to trick Officer Jenny so we could get out of there. I'll explain more later, but now we have a legendary to capture!" Kendo gave me another smile then turned and darted off, motioning for me to follow. The Persian darted after her. I exchanged a look with Blitz, then the two of us took off as well, racing through the forest of redwoods to find the wounded mew.


	6. Chapter 6: Saving Mew

We dashed through the maze of trees, all of them blurring together as we raced by. Person and Blitz were running side by side too, which was surprising since Persian is a feline Pokémon, and Blitz a canine. "There!" Kendo pointed through the trees. I could just make out Agony's black and red hair. I picked up speed and burst into the clearing, the scene was the last thing I expected and I almost fell over in surprise. Agony was sitting Indian style on the ground, and stretched out in her lap was mew.

My eyes filled with amazement, Kendo too was clearly shocked. "Agony, how-" I started to ask, but was cut off. "I'll tell you later" Agony promised. "Right now we have to heal Mew! I sent Fiarya to the village to look for hyper potions or something.." "Zang!" Malice entered the clearing holding a big clump of wet moss. He promptly handed it to Agony, who dripped some of the water onto Mew.

Kendo got down on her knees besides Agony and quickly looked over the poor legendary. "Mews in real bad shape. If we don't get medicine soon…" Nothing more needed to be said, we all knew Mew wouldn't make it much longer. With a frown, Agony repositioned the weak Pokémon on her lap and dripped some more water on it. "Your ganna be alright" she promised the little Pokémon. Mew's eyes were closed and it's breathing was slow. Looking at the poor think made my legs weak, and I felt horrible after I heard Agony's promise. There was barely any chance of that promise coming true. We all knew it, and we all felt helpless.

Blitz looked up at me, as if he expected me to have another miracle wish, like what I used to save him. Eyes lowering, heart breaking, I shook my head. If I hadn't been such a careless trainer and Blitz didn't get so hurt and worn out in battle, I'd still have the wish, and Mew could live. The purple and pink glow of my necklace started to get weaker, since I wasn't any farther away from Mew then a minute ago, I knew it was a bad sign. "Anything I can do to help?" I asked, desperation oozed out in my voice, the others just shook their heads though. They were clueless. Agony, the oldest of us all and self proclaimed rescuer of the shinys, was clueless. Kendo the best ranger I know, even if she is a trainer now, was clueless. Things weren't looking good.

"Agony!" All of us turned to see Fiarya speeding towards us. "I tried to get Nurse Joy, but she's on her break and I can't find her. No one knows of any medicine or anyway to help!" Fiarya was clearly scared like the rest of us, we didn't want Mew to die, but there was nothing any of us could do. With Nurse Joy unavailable, even our last hope was shattered. "It can't end like this!" Agony's voice was determined. I hadn't seen her like this before, something about the poor mew was really sinking deep down inside her, like mew was already etched in so deep to her heart that she couldn't possible let mew die.

"I can look mew over again, maybe see what's wrong" After a hurried nod from Agony, Kendo examined mew again, this time touching the legendary and turning it around. "Looks pretty beaten, the battle must have been intense." My backpack caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I remember that I had bought a potion from the pokemart a while ago, just in case Blitz needed it. "Here try this!" I called and tossed it over. A hand flashed through the air and then Kendo handed the potion she had just caught to Agony, who sprayed it on carefully. All was silent for a moment.

"It didn't do a thing." Fiarya was the fist to point out the obvious. No one else wanted to do it. "It did something, but not nearly enough, we'd need about a hundred of those things to save mew, maybe even more." Kendo's comment wasn't at all an exaggeration. Agony cradled the limp mew close to her chest; its life was fading fast. Desperation filled the air; the whole atmosphere was heavy with it. Greif was on the wind, and it was clear to see the wet glisten of everyone's eyes. The Pokémon all hung their heads in sorrow, as was respectable for all of us to do if the legendary was indeed to…move on.

My head fell down too, as a single tear fell to the floor. The colors were starting to blur, I could see a big foggy blanket of green, black blobs that faintly resembled skater shoes, and the faint glow of purple and pink coming from my necklace. But wait; there was something else. I blinked away some of the tears and held the stone of my necklace in my hand. The pink color was still fading, but another color was already blurring into the stone. "Two at once." I wondered aloud. The others raised their tear-struck eyes up to me, wondering what I was talking about. It was no time to explain now though.

My heart pounded, wondering what this could mean. The green kept getting stronger and stronger as the pink grew weaker. "Blitz" I called, my voice raspy from the tears and sorrow building up. "full alert" I glanced at the others, they all seemed like they were trying to block me out. As if I was a little crying kid in mass, or a disrespectful loudmouth at a funeral. Blitz seemed as if he wanted to grieve instead as well, but no matter what, he always did as I asked. He knew better then to question me, and he trusted me completely.

Sure enough, Blitz's relaxed stance grew stiff and he perked his ears. He sensed something was coming, and I to braced myself as the green coloration on my necklace reached the peak of its brightness. _Swoosh!_ With a flash of light and a strange sound, another Pokémon appeared. This Pokémon had a light green upper body and a darker green lower body. It had antennas, which were green as well with blue tips. The Pokémon also had two small clear wings, and it had eyes as blue as the sea, just like me.

A single word breathed out in amazement filled the air . "Celibi" The voice was Kendo's. She looked up from the dying mew to see the new Pokémon. Agony took longer to raise her eyes. "Cel Cel" the little green Pokémon, called out while glancing around. It seemed as if it was looking for something, or someone. "Gro gro growlithe!" Blitz offered a reply, and like magic celibi's eyes immediately went to the stone around my neck. "Celibi!" It called as it flew over to me. I wasn't sure what to say.

"Save Mew!" We all looked over to Agony, she had raised her head to the new legendary, her eyes were red from tears, which made the stern look she gave celibi even more intimidating. "What could Celibi do?" There was no sound to my voice, just a rasp whisper that didn't even seem human, nor audible to the human ear. Apparently Kendo either has super hearing, or mind reading skills, because she gave me an answer. "Time travel."

"That's right, Celibi can travel to any time!" Agony rose to her feet with mew still cradled in her arms. "We can save mew from getting hurt!" Reika finished. The plan seemed more like something from a fiction book then reality. Then again, any idea to save mew would seem to good to be true. My eyes drifted over to where Celibi hovered. It seemed like a fairy, with those delicate wings and captivating eyes. It was as if, through those eyes, I could see things of the past and future. Just as, when looking at the dark night sky, one can see light that was let of from distant stars hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago.

"Frost" I blinked my eyes three times and turned away from Celibi's deep blue eyes. Everyone seemed to by waiting for my response, dispute the fact that no question was verbally proposed. It was clear to see though, that all of my friends were ready to warp through time and save mew. I must have looked clueless though, as I blinked once more and looked around at everyone else. They all seemed so eager to get moving. My mind whirled, something about going back in time made me as dizzy as a spinda. "What about Persian" I was merely trying to stall, but after the words were out of my mouth I realized it was actually a good point. Persian, already malnourished, didn't need to be going on the rescue mission with the rest of us. Someone would have to escort the lost Pokémon home, and perhaps that someone could be me.

"If we return to this time it will be like we never left, so technically we are barely leaving Persian for more then a few seconds." Agony, the most impatient of all of us, had a point that I couldn't argue with. Thankfully though, Kendo could. "If something goes wrong, which it very well could, then Persian will be deserted after all." "I'll take it home" I volunteered. The others looked at me in surprise as I stepped forward and signaled for Persian to follow. I merrily marched through the tress hearing the paw steps of the panther Pokémon behind me. It was nice to know that the life of mew wasn't resting on my shoulders. Not to mention the fact that I didn't have to travel back in time and risk the possibility of distorting the world of today.

Without even turning I could sense something was wrong. My marching slowed and slowed until I was standing still once again. I had only managed to make it a few yards. Persian was following me, but so was someone else, Celibi. For some reason the little green legendary seemed drawn to me, which made no sense what so ever. Agony was the oldest, as well as the one with the wounded Mew. Kendo was the ranger, which should be someone all Pokémon adore. Then there was Fiarya, who was the cheeriest one of all of us, and seemed to be the most gentle and perky. For some reason though, Celibi was following me.

"Err..Celibi go over there please!" I ordered. The fairy Pokémon wouldn't budge. "Please?" I begged, putting on my best puppy dog face. My cute charm had no effect. "Frost it seems to wanna stay with you, someone else will have to take Persian home." Naturally, everyone turned to Fiarya. She knew the woods better then any of us and also knew Mrs. Megan, it would be only naturally for her to go. "Alright, no problem, I'll take care of Persian, you guys go back in time and save mew!" My heart sank. Any little thing we did could mess up the whole world of today and maybe even alter history. I may be over exaggerating a bit, but to me, time travel wasn't quite natural.

"Everyone ready?" Kendo's voice filled the silent woods and everyone nodded. All of our Pokémon were safe inside their pokeballs, Mew was sleeping in a grass nest under a tree and celibi was hovering next to me. The wounded legendary couldn't come with us. Instead, the goal was to find mew before it was hurt, and save it. My eyes rose to the green legendary, and right on cue it began to glow. A faint beam of light outlined the rest of us too. Suddenly it flashed extremely bright. For half a second it was as if we were watching a movie in rewind. Days flashed before our eyes faster then the speed of light, then all was blank.

"We made it!" Kendo's voice filled the empty air. I blinked a few times and suddenly my surroundings started to become visible. It took time to adjust, like walking out of a dark room into the bright sunlight. "Lets find Mew!" Agony dashed through the trees without wasting a second. I on the other hand, took time to gather my bearings.

We were in the same part of the forest that we were standing in when we left. At first I thought nothing had changed. Then I noticed the darkening sky, it was clearly evening, when it was mid afternoon only moments ago. Technically, to us it seemed like only a few seconds, but we must actually be back in time nearly a whole month. That's about how long the animals were rumored to be territorial, and about how old Kendo thinks Mew's wound is.

"Celi! Celi!" I had nearly forgotten about the teleporting green fairy that had brought us here. It's excited call rang through the forest like church bells echoing through a quiet village. Then the green fairy took off and without more then a moments worth of hesitation, Kendo, Agony, our Pokémon, and I followed. "Celi Celi!" The calls were filled with more excitement now. As the tint of purple flushed into my green stone necklace I knew we were close to Mew.

"Look its healthy" Agony exclaimed in a warm sigh of relief as the unwounded Mew flew towards us through the trees. The purple Pokémon rushed past us and kept on going, glancing back repeatedly with frightened eyes. That's when we knew it was being chassed, and the poachers must be what was doing the chasing.

"Lets ambush them!" Kendo decided! "They must be running this way, and we'll be ready when they get here!" Nods of agreement were made by each of us, and six pokeballs were tossed up into the air. Sparks and Menectrike stood in front of Kendo as Pooch perched on her shoulder. Malice and Muzuki each stood next to Agony, and Blitz was in front of everyone, growling menacingly as the ground started to shake with from the charging poachers.

"Uhh Kendo, I'm not to sure about this" I mumbled as the shaking ground grew even more violent. Whatever was coming was big, like a heard of stampeding touros or a giant snorlax marching through the woods. "Its ganna be fine" Kendo reassured me. "We've gatta beat em" Agony said through clenched teeth. She was clearly determined to destroy whoever hurt poor little Mew.

The pursuers came into sight and as soon as they did so all of us froze in shock. The poachers were in a giant robot like machine! Their machine was decked out in all kinds of evil gadgets, from net launchers to blowtorches. In other words it was a walking Pokémon-catching machine that probably coasts more then this entire region. "RUN!" I shouted as the machine kept surging forward. We were all about to me pancakes. I grabbed Kendo and Agony by their wrists then hurled myself to the side. The three of us landed just out of harms way and the Pokémon scattered as well before the machine rushed past.

"There ganna get Mew!" Agony hauled herself to her feet and took of after the poachers before I could even blink. "They're scaring all the Pokémon!" Kendo leapt off and chased the giant robot as well. Like loyal companions, their Pokémon rushed after them. Blitz, Celibi, and I were left standing there like idiots. "Well gang, lets kick some metal butt!" I decided, smiling evilly.

Agony was driven by some unnatural force as she sped forward. Her eyes were narrowed, focusing only on her target, the giant machine in front of her. It was still moving, chasing the helpless Pokémon, but Mew was slowing. If someone was close enough they could have seen the quick movements of the little Pokémon's chest as it panted. Mew's mouth gaped open in exhaustion. It couldn't keep going forever. Typically it would be able t teleport, but a glowing band around the Pokémon's ankle seemed to be weakling it somehow. A beam of light shot out of the poaching-machine suddenly Mew was being pulled in.

A switch flicked in Agony's mind, it was as if she would do anything to protect Mew, as if she were its guardian. She bent down quickly for extra power, then launched herself forward, landing on the machine and clinging tight. She clenched her teeth and mustered up more strength. Her hands slowly slid up the machine and she found footing on part of the robot and used it to push herself up higher. Slowly, she managed to climb her way to the top. The faces of the poachers fell as they suddenly saw a seventeen-year-old girl clinging to the outside of their fancy gadget.

"Mew isn't going with you creeps!" Agony announced. She turned her head to look at where Mew was in the captivating grasp of the laser light. Repositioning herself, Agony pressed the soles of her feet against the glass of the windshield of the robot. She was still clinging to it, but her grasp was loose now. Quickly, for she couldn't hold for long, Agony turned to face Mew once more. Before the Poachers could even figure out what she was doing, or anyone could yell stop, Agony launched herself straight towards the little pink Pokémon. Her arms extended and she snatched it up mid-air. A triumphant smile flashed across Agony's face as she cradled the frightened little legendary, but quickly her face fell again, they were free falling to the ground from a tall height. Landing wouldn't be pretty.

"Capture On!" The words shot through the air, and only seconds later a mighteana shot through the air as well. It caught Agony and Mew, and landed on its feet safely. "Nice capture!" Agony breathed out her gratitude as she regained her breath, still clutching the little legendary. Kendo smirked "Nice lunge" she commented.

"So you think you can escape us?" The poacher's voices boomed over a speaker as they cried out in frustration. A humming noise bubbled out of the machine, then a powerful beam of electricity was shot straight towards Mew! The Pink Pokémon turned its head in time to see the shock, but not fast enough to take action. It's eyes filled with fear as the beam closed in, and the little legendary quickly braced itself for the blow by wincing and closing its eyes tight. However, the beam never hit Mew. Agony had reacted right away, and had leapt forward to put herself in front of Mew. She used her own body as a shield and kept the poor Mew out of harms way.

"Agony!" Kendo screamed as she fell to her knees beside her friend. Agony was out cold. "Come on, stay with us!" Kendo shook her friend lightly, hovering over her with worried eyes. Mew's own eyes were wet with tears, it descended down and stood besides the brave Pokémon trainer. "mew?" it whispered, wondering why Agony had saved it.

"Hate to break up the moment, but we have business to finish!" The poachers started up their machine again, determined to capture Mew. They aimed another beam, but a danger symbol started flashing before they could fire. "Alert, overheating, evacuate! Evacuate!" The machine called in annoying voice. It almost echoed the fear shown on the poachers' faces as they glanced at each other, wondering what was going on. Everything was heating up fast. Some parts of the metal robot were even beginning to glow red!

The two poachers flew out of their seats and down the escape hatch, the machine started to tremble as they raced down the stairs. Kendo quickly lifted up Agony and carried the unconscious trainer out of the way. "Its ganna blow!" The poachers screamed as they leapt onto the ground and struggled to their feet. Their fear made them uncoordinated and they stumbled as they tried to run.

KA-BOOM! The whole machine overheated and a giant blast rumbled through the forest. Everyone looked on in astonishment, thinking that this would be the end of their lives, an explosion that big would destroy the entire forest. In the blink of an eye, however, the whole machine was gone. Standing in its place, was Frost.

"Frost what the heck!" Kendo screamed out. Her voice was heavy with mixed emotions; fear, relief, and confusion. The poachers were to stunned to even speak. A smirk fell across Frost's face, a devilish smirk of triumph. "Just took a few flamethrowers for the thing to explode" Frost replied smugly. She motioned to a pack of houndour and houndoom that were accompanying her and Blitz. "But where did it go?" Kendo wondered. At this, Frost chuckled a bit. "You'd have my head if I blew up the forest. So celebi sent that oversized action figure to another time! Guess we know what killed the dinosaurs! "Well where's-" Frost froze as she saw Agony, and at once her smile vanished. The cheery tone in her voice was murdered as she realized the horrible state Agony was in." "What happened?" she asked as she stared in astonishment. She stood stone still for a few more seconds, and then finally managed to move her stone feet and rush towards her friends. "What happened?" She screamed out again as she fell to her knees besides the wounded girl. "Electric blast" Kendo murmured, "I, I, I don't know what to do…"


	7. Chapter 7: Saved

"It's all my fault, I should have seen this coming, I should have warned her, I should have blocked her…" "Kendo you hush up we both know there's nothing you could have done." I scolded my friend firmly. We were both sitting on the forest floor next to our fallen friend. Kendo had her whole bag of belongings spilled out before her, things she always had with her; hyper potion, paralyze heal, berries; nothing worked for Agony. She was lying there motionless. We both kept listening for a heartbeat. Her Pokémon were both frightened as they whined and whimpered over their fallen friend. Malice sat next to her and kept prodding her gently with his claws, hoping she would wake up, arise like sleeping beauty and say "hey guys, what did I miss?" We all longed to hear her voice again, to see her smug grin. I had only known her for a few days, but still, it felt like part of me was dying. Seeing her like this made all of us sick.

Blitz curled up next to Agony too, whining softly and looking up at me, as if asking, 'is this death?" I turned away with moist eyes. The sleeve of my shirt caught the tears as I rubbed my face. I sniffed, blinked, and looked around, trying to get my mind of the tears, to hold them back. If I let even a few drops of water fall from my eyes the entire fountain would pour out in an unstoppable flow. I forced myself to focus on Mew, the little legendary that Agony had risked, and perhaps sacrificed, her own life for.

Mew was darting back and forth in the air, as a human might pace around a room. It seemed to almost be whispering to itself, Kendo's poocheana looked up at it as well. "pooch!" he called, interrupting the legendaries movement. Once Pooch had Mew's attention, he flicked his head back as if motioning to Kendo, then he swept his tail across the capture styler on her belt. She didn't even notice. Mew, however, seemed to understand what Pooch was trying to saw, then suddenly it's gaze fell on me. I met its eyes with a startled look and tried to blink away more moisture. I must have looked really pathetic, stifling tears and feeling completely useless.

Celibi swooped down to Mew, then over to me. It's little green hand touched the stone around my neck. I felt some sort of strange sensation flood through my body and the stone turned completely green. I couldn't describe the feeling, it was almost like a wave of hope. My eyes rose to Mew's again, but this time the little Pokémon had a softer, more trusting gaze. It seemed to have excepted both Kendo and I. A faint light engulfed the pink Pokémon, and it grew brighter and brighter until all of us had to shield our eyes.

When we regained sight again, we were in a completely different place. Trees curved in towards us and formed a perfect wall that nothing could get through; the tops were intertwined together so nothing could see into out little area. To one side was a huge tree, hollowed out like a cave, to the other was a tiny pound with crystal clear water. Berries grew on the branches above us, and some of theme were scattered across the ground, each was perfect, and you could nearly taste its juicy flavor just by looking at it. The whole place was a marvel, an astonishing secret place. It was a mew, Mew's mew. No wonder why the little legendary was hesitant to bring us here, this was it's home.

I understood why being a ranger granted Kendo access to this hidden sanctuary, but was my ticket here really the necklace? How could a stone determine if I was worthy to be here or not? None of it made sense, and it seemed every moment brought another puzzle to solve, and more questions to answer. "Zang!" Malice's surprised explanation brought everyone's attention to Agony. Blitz jumped up, already her body felt warmer and her breathing was going back to a normal rate.

"it's a miracle!" Kendo breathed, she glanced down at her recovering friend, then scanned the wonderland as I had just done. The whole place was like something from a fairy tale. "Mew!" The legendry Pokémon was flying around Agony and motioning to the pound. Kendo wasted no time, and immediately dumped an empty bottle of Super potion out of her bag and filled the container up with the crystal clear pound water. When Mew nodded in excitement and flew back to Agony, we all knew that Kendo was on the right track. No one dared breath as Kendo gently poured the cold, magical liquid into Agony's mouth. Not a sound could be except the symphony of all our hearts beating in anticipation.

"Richu!" Mizuki called out, breaking the silence. He was sitting on Agony's chest, peering into her now-blinking eyes. A warm smile crossed everyone's face as puzzlement crossed hers. "Why the heck are you all staring at me?" she grunted weakly. She seemed rather annoyed, but none of us were at all offended. "Agony!" I screamed out, it was all to much for me to bear, I darted forward and wrapped my arms around her neck, squishing her in a massive hug. "Get of me you nut!" she scolded as she pushed be back, but it was easy to see the joy in her eyes. Perhaps now she was realizing what's going on.

"Agony don't ever do that again!" Kendo scolded as she hugged her friend as well, nearly squeezing the guts out of her. Agony's smile grew brighter at that, and even brighter still when she saw Mew, safe, happy, and perfectly healthy. "mew!" She called as she outstretched her arms, the sweet legendary rushed forward and Agony embraced it. All of us were erupting with pure joy. This was truly a perfect moment.

"So where are we?" Agony wondered as she finally let go of the little legendary. "Mew's hideout." Kendo said. The older girl's eyes went wide as she took in the ranger's words. "Really" she turned to Mew in shock "nice place ya got here" she said in a nonchalant matter. Kendo and I turned and grinned at each other, both glad to have Agony back.

Celibi, however, seemed a bit impatient. It flew around and gestured to Mew in a quick, pestered manner. Mew seemed to be filled with disappointment, and it hung its head glumly. Celibi continued, and as fast as the joy had faded, it was back again. Mew dashed into the hollowed out tree and came out with something in its hands. The Pokémon embraced Agony a final time then set the object in her hands. "mew mew mew" it said, we all somehow knew that meant goodbye. Our hunch turned out to be correct as Celibi began to glow. Once more we were sent through the walls of time.

The mystifying sight of Mew's mew was gone and replaced with the familiar red wood forest. It was at first hard to tell when in time they were, but when Celibi waved farewell and vanished in a ball of light, we knew we must be back in our own time. "Well that was different" Kendo said, a warm smile on her face "bet no one back at ranger base has gotten to time travel!" I sat on the ground scanning the surroundings for any signs that we had messed up the present. Agony, on the other hand, was absorbed in her own thoughts. Her only focus was on the object in her hands. After a few moments, Kendo and I could no longer take the nagging curiosity. We rose to our feet and headed over to her, eager to get a glimpse at the item that was so precious to Agony.

Closing your eyes during a roller coaster is an instant response, as is pulling away when you are hurt, or sneezing when something tickles your nose. My hand fluttered over to the rock around my neck in an automatic response when I saw what Agony had. The object she was holding was a smooth, colorful rock identical to mine. The only difference was that hers was a pale red shade, while mine was icy blue at the moment.

Agony's head rose and her eyes locked with mine. I was lost as I peered into the light red pools of both questions and answers. Her stone unlocked hidden secrets about mine, and made me realize things that I never even thought about, however, it filled my mind with more and more questions. We were both stumped, and it was Kendo who spoke up first.

"Your rocks match your eye colors" Kendo noted, "but they both seem to be the same. Agony, I wonder if your stone changes colors too." "Mew gave this to me, and you said your father gave you yours?" Agony added. I felt two pairs of eyes turn to me. "Frost, is there any more to tell?" Kendo asked, I knew she meant spit it all out, and with a deep breath, I did just that.

"My father did give me the stone when I was thirteen, but I always wondered where he got it. When we had saved Jirachi from poachers I saw the wish-maker give something to my father, a small black object. When asked, my dad would just say it would be mine when I was ready. The day before he left he handed me the stone, I remember that night well. The rock was black at first and I knew it was the same object I had seen years before. The moment I touched it, however, it turned icy-blue. When it did my dad grew tense, as if he regretted handing it to me, or by it turning blue he was somehow hurt.

"It didn't take long for Blitz and I to realize that this wasn't any old stone. Ever since I received it strange Pokémon would pop out of no where. They always frightened me, because I didn't expect it. If I ran they usually chased me. For many years I though I was crazy, over-paranoid from the time that the poacher's Pokémon had jumped out at me. Eventually, however, I noticed something. The necklace always changed color just before a Pokémon came. The more intense the color was the closer the creature was.

If I ever got a good look at the Pokémon chasing me, I would usually remember seeing its picture from some story book. That scared me even more, I thought that all of the most powerful Pokémon out there were trying to steal my necklace, or attack me. I refused to take the necklace off though, because my dad told me to wear it all the time. Whatever color the stone was would also be the color of the Pokémon."

I glanced at my friends, wondering how they were taking all of this. Both of them were starring at me as if I had feet growing out of my ears. "You ran from legendaries?" Agony asked. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Kendo chimed in. I just crossed my arms stubbornly and jumped to me feet. "Fine then, you try going on a journey when ya gatta worry bout weird Pokémon popping out at you constantly! You enjoy live wondering what kind of a Pokémon could look that strange, and wondering if it was friendly or not!" I sighed, my steam from my sudden explosion was drifting away. After a few moments of silence I faced my friends again "I'm starved" I admitted "we can discuss what an idiot I am after I've had something to eat." Kendo smiled slightly and Agony just nodded, stuffing her stone into her pocket. The three of us then wondered back through the redwood forest hoping to find the town.

The moment we stepped out of the forest and into the town, I felt like we had left all peace behind and entered a madhouse. Everyone was outside looking around. We were spotted immediately then all of the people flocked around us, like pidgeys flocked around old ladies with bread. The crowd shoved its way in the middle of us and separated us. Each one of us was being slashed and beaten to the ground with questions. "Is it true?" "Did you see a mew?" "I thought that was all a legend?" "Was it really here?" "Where is it now?" "Did you get to touch it?" "Did it feel like you were in the presence of true power?"

"EVERYONE SHUTUP!" Agony's voice swept over the crowd and they were silenced completely, as if her voice came from the clouds. I shoved my way through the now stunned crowd. Everyone was silent and my friends and I were practically steaming. It was easy to tell that none of us liked crowds. Once in the front of the crowd, Kendo stood up on a log and faced the crowd. "Listen, I need everyone to calm down! Yes the legends are true, Mew does exist, and yes it was here. However, it isn't here now. I ask everyone to please stay calm, now this legendary is no longer present and if it were, it defiantly wouldn't like all this commotion."

All of us sighed in relief as Kendo finished speaking and the crowd slowly began to disperse. A wave of whispers filled the little town, but at least it wasn't the excited screaming that was blasting in our ears moments ago. "Thanks ranger" I smirked, Kendo just rolled her eyes at me "I'm not a ranger anymore" she replied, then she began heading off "we need to check up on Misses Meagan's Persian." Kendo explained, the rescue missions never ended. I tugged gently on the straps of my backpack as I followed the others. This darn thing seemed to be glued to me. I was like a shukle, or a torkal, carrying all I needed on my back. As I pulled the back closer I felt something hard inside. What the heck is that? I wondered to myself. Pausing, I swung the pack around and unzipped it. Inside was the box that Professor Palm had asked me to deliver! I had completely forgotten about it, though it was the whole reason we had come.

Glancing ahead, I realized my friends were already inside Mrs. Meagan's house. They didn't really need me tagging along, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to stay out here for a minute and figure things out. I sat down an a big redwood tree stump and set my backpack in front of it. I shuffled through my clothes, money, and pokeballs, until I found what I needed; my pokegear. Thirteen missed calls! I sighed and decided to catch up with society. First I called the person who was responsible for eight of those thirteen missed calls; my mother.

"Frost! It's about time! I've been so worried! How are you? Don't you love it here?" I sighed at my mother's enthusiasm. "Yea its great mom, I'm great, been busy, sorry I didn't call," "Oh its alright dear I understand, well listen we've been doing some research already, it seems that the Pokémon here are from regions all over the world! Nothing like we've seen before! I was out gathering data earlier and I saw a shiny caterpie! Can you believe it? Professor Palm says he's seen quite a few shinnies in his time working here!" "My friend has a shiny zangoose, didn't you get my letter?" "No Frost, I didn't receive anything from you" I hesitated, then glanced in my backpack, sure enough there was the envelope with Malice's picture and a few notes to my mother about the shiny outburst. "Sorry mom, its been hectic lately, I' send it ASAP" "Alright that's fine dear, how's Blitz, catch any new Pokémon?" I was about to reply when Kendo burst out of the house and shouted at me "Frost, get in here quick!" "gatta go" I said to my mother and hung up without waiting for a reply. I snatched up my bag and raced over to my friend. When I entered the house, I saw Agony, Fiarya, and Misses Meagan in front of the T.V. On the television was the news, and on the news, was us.

"The news of the legendary Mew has swept across the region, there were only four known witnesses, all of them were teenage girls. Some of the town's people say this is a hoax, but others say its not. One of the girls addressed the matter:" the screen flashed off from a reporter to the image of kendo speaking in front of the crowd. Kendo winced "this isn't good at all" she muttered as she saw her own face on television. "now everyone will be looking for Mew!"

"Many viewers noticed that this girl has a capture stylist, which means she's a ranger. That being said, it is highly likely that what she says is true, and highly likely that mew was in some sort of trouble! Now at the moment, one of our reporters is standing outside the house these kids are in, waiting for more of the story."

All of our faces fell as we heard the knock on the door, for a minute none of us could move. Finally Agony stood up. "I don't know about the rest off you, but I'm a wanted criminal, Its really not the best time form me to be on a talk-show." "The ranger Unions probably already mad about me snagging the styler when I left, no need to bother them more by attracting attention to wounded legendaries. That isn't the right thing to do." "If I'm on the news my mom would freak" I mumbled, we all then turned to Fiarya. "I kinda like T.V." she admitted with an innocent grin. "Well then you keep the busy while we slip out the back" Agony decided. "Don't reveal too much about Mew!" Kendo added. I hesitated, then took out the letter for my mother and handed it to . "I hate to ask, but could you drop this off in a post office whenever you get the chance?" The old lady nodded, and said she'd be happy too. I smiled in return, gave her persion a quick pat, then darted out the back door with my friends. We were on the run again.


	8. Chapter 8: Herb Badge Won

We were unnoticed as we slipped out the back door of old 's house. We were unnoticed as we clung to the shadows, darting across the houses trying to avoid our new paparazzi. We were pure ninjas as we dodged the sights of all of the villagers and finally made it to the trees on the other side of town. However, as we stepped into the cover of the redwood trees and let ourselves relax, thinking we were safe, we were spotted.

"Hey you three! Step right up and try to defeat me!" The three of us whirled around to face a young man, probably in his early 20's. His hair was a forestry green color, just as his T-shirt was. He wore camo pants and a camo baseball cap on his head. Attached to his belt were three camo pokeballs, and behind him was a building fastened out of the redwood trees, it blended in perfectly, with perfect camouflage.

"Names Zeek" The man said as we stepped closer "this here is the new gym! First one done in the whole region! How do ya like them apples? Well you three wanna be the first contesters at the first gym in the first region?" The three of us exchanged glances, not sure weather or not to battle at the moment. We didn't want to attract attention, and if we were the first contestants we might do just that.

"Well Mister Camouflage, we were sort of on our way out, but if you can handle a few speed battles and don't cry when you loose then I suppose it won't hurt." Agony thought for a moment then added in "We need some cash for the next city, and a quick battle may give us enough. We both turned to Kendo, who simply shook her head "I'll watch, but you two have fun" she decided. I suppose the Ex-Ranger wasn't interested in Gym Battles like we were. I shrugged and rushed past Zeek into his well-hidden Gym, my two friends darted in after me and the new leader trailed in behind us, baffled by our sudden bust of speed.

"I'll go first" Agony decided. Malice appeared in a beam of light, obviously ready for some action. He slashed his claws together, sharpening them with a few quick movements. A toothy grin made him look rather mischievous. Zeek grabbed one of the camo balls around his belt and hurled it into the air. An adorable leafeon took center stage. Her innocent smile and delicate appearance made it easy to underestimate her, but the way her eyes gleamed and her fur shone made it clear she held more power then one would guess.

"Challenger gets the first move" Zeek announced, there was a warm, quirky smile on his face and it was easy to see that he was excited for his first battle as a gym leader. Agony glanced at her Pokémon, then barked out an order. "Malace, run towards it" She declared. Malace surged forward, his arms flew behind him, one on each side and his eyes were fixed on his target. "Gather in sunlight while bracing yourself." Zeek ordered to his little grass Pokémon. Specks of light were pulled towards leafeon, it was clear that they were planning on a solar beam.

"Prepare a crush claw!" "Release the solar beam!" "Jump to doge then land your move" "Quick aim the beam above you, blast that zangoose back!" The battle was pretty intense, both Pokémon were listening to their trainers' orders and responding without a second's hesitation. Leafeon tried to blast her opponent with her solar beam, but Malice was a step ahead of her. He put his glowing claws together to block the move then when he was close enough he landed his move with a direct hit.

Everyone had to shield their eyes from the solar beam reflected of Malace's claws, but when they glanced back again it was clear who the winner was. Leafeon had fallen. It was a one-hit –knockout! Agony fist pumped as Malice smirked. After furrowing his brow and whipping the frown from his face, Zeek tossed another pokeball after returning his fallen friend.

A green Pokémon that resembled a long-neck dinosaur appeared. It had a pink flower surrounding its neck and too antennas on its head. "Ganiiii" the Pokémon called. Agony grinned. "A miganium ehh? Very cool! Malice you want one more go?" The shiny Zangoose nodded then turned to Magainum, waiting an order. "Poison Claw" Agony ordered, her voice sounded almost sinister. "Frenzy Plant!" Zeek replied as he folded his arms and watched the stadium turn into a sea of green. Plants shot forward and seized Malace, engulfing him in walls of nature. "Slice your was through with an X-Scissor!" Agony ordered. All was still for a moment then Malice burst from the plant tower and launched himself at Maganuim. The two collided and rolled together along the gym floor. "Quick! Beam it!" Zeek ordered. "X-Scissor while the solar powers charging!" Malice let his claws glow again and preformed a direct hit right on Magainum's side. "Try to get in a poison jab!" Agony called when the grass type still didn't fall. Malace's claws turned purple and he plunged them into Magainum's side just as a beam of light shot straight at him. Both Pokémon where hurled backwards by each other's attacks and, when the dust cleared, both were struggling to stand.

"One final move! Just keep it simple and use razor leaf!" Zeek decided, urging his wounded Pokémon to stay standing for just one more move. Agony clenched her teeth, after that direct hit from such a powerful solar beam it was a miracle that any Pokémon could stand. She needed to finish off her target without wearing her Pokémon down first. Leaves shot through the air straight at malice. "Fall to the ground!" Agony ordered. Malice let himself fall and the leaves slipped by right over him. "Get up! Go in for the win!" Malice leapt to his feet and locked eyes with Maganium, the two seemed equally desperate to win, without even using a move, the two ran forward and body slammed each other. Both Pokémon were tossed back again, and both were down. However, Malice manages to stumble to his feet and Maganium just couldn't do it. "That's the spirit Malice, bravo!" Agony praised as she returned her tiered Pokémon, "you can rest for now, Mizuki, your up!

"I have full faith in this one!" Zeek called out as he tossed a final pokeball into the air. It was another grass type. A small green Pokémon that resembled a lizard. "Tsutaja!" Zeek announced, using the Japanese name for a starter native to the Isshu region. "Your from Isshu?" Frost asked as she stared at the unfamiliar Pokémon. "Nope, Pokémon from every region can be caught here!" Zeek announced proudly. "Now enough chatter, lets fight." Agony nodded, eager to take on the new opponent "start it off with a volt tackle." Agony decided. "Wait for it, wait for it, Jump!" Tsutaja leapt up into the air nimbly, but Agony had expected that, and planned for it. "Jump up and ram it, then switch to an iron tail!" Mizuki darted into the air, still glowing in electricity. He collided with the grass type then pushed off it and went even further up in the air, quickly the raichu switched from an electric move to a steal move, and it slammed down its now silver tail straight at Tsutaja.

"Grab it" Zeek ordered! His Pokémon was extremely fast and snatched Mizuki's tail, hanging on firmly. "Quick, use your own iron tail!" Tsutja's tail glowed and then it spun, letting go of the electric type and slamming it. Almost like a baseball player would toss a ball then swing a bat to hit it. Raichu was hit right on. Agony, however, wasn't to worried. Instead she smirked. "Alright, time for the secret move, Mizuki!" She called. Mizuki grinned mischievously, then his paws glowed read and were soon engulfed with flames. "Fire punch!" Agony shouted. Zeek's jaw dropped and he knew he was staring at defeat. The fire move landed perfectly and Tsutaja was a grass type! His Pokémon was now on the floor struggling to stand. "A quick thunderbolt aughta do just fine," Agony said. Thunder was summoned from nowhere and landed on the final Pokémon of the first gym in the region. It was a full out victory. Agony was tossed her first badge and both Pokémon were returned in a flash of red light.

"Well then, I suppose its time for an expedition to the Pokémon center." Zeek decided as he hooked the last ball onto his belt and looked over towards Agony "good battle" "Same to you, but I do believe the Pokémon center is unnecessary" Agony responded. The gym leader stared at her as if her hair was on fire. "What? Unnecessary?" he asked. Agony nodded, then motioned to Kendo "there's your center right there!" She announced. Kendo and I realized what Agony had already figured out. A trip to the Pokémon center meant a trip to town, which would be fatal to our plan on escaping without an interview.

"Three hyper potions for Zeek and two for Agony!" Kendo announced as she pulled out five bottles of the medicine. Both trainers bent and sprayed the mixture onto their wounded Pokémon, immediately their friends began to regain health. "Why not the Pokémon center?" Zeek wondered as he finished caring for his Pokémon. "Because were in a hurry and I'm not leaving without my badge." I jumped up to speak before the others could. It was better that Zeek didn't know the full story, or he might ask for an interview too. Legendaries were truly Pokémon of legends, and anyone who didn't spaz about them would be considered crazy.

"May we get this show on the road?" I spoke up again, unhooking Blitz's pokeball from a clasp on my belt. "Show em what'cha got buddy!" I called as my oh-so-faithful friend appeared in front of me. Zeek sent out Tsutaja. "Alrighty Blitz, this one is quick and sneaky, so were ganna stay one step ahead. It knows Iron tail by the way!" Blitz gave a firm nod, showing he understood. Agony sat down next to Kendo on the sidelines, letting her Pokémon out to watch. Poocheana was stretched out in Kendo's lap.

"Alright Blitz, first round, keep it simple!" I decided "Charge in there and blowtorch it!" Blitz lowered his head and lunged, propelling himself forward with amazing speed. "Brace yourself" "Zeek ordered, watching Blitz's movements carefully "now jump!" The grass lizard skillfully leapt into the air, scaling over Blitz easily. "Slide" I called. Blitz fell to the ground mid run, letting his body skid across the hard floor as he used his hind legs to turn himself and deliver the flamethrower I had requested earlier. "Block it with a solar beam!" Mid-air Tsutaja dodged Blitz's attack and started up a solar beam of his own, I didn't even know that little Pokémon could learn solar beam, but apparently it could.

The beams of fire and light collided and caused an explosion. "Through the dark the predator advances" I called. Zeek gave me a truly puzzled look. When the smoke cleared, however, and Blitz was standing right behind Tsuta, everyone knew what we had done. "Slam it" I called. Blitz tacked the grass type, slamming it to the ground with all his weight. "That's my boy!" I called, as the Pokémon was down and out.

"Maganium, your on!" Zeek called, then he glanced at me wondering if I would change Pokémon, he obviously didn't know I couldn't "Your still in Blitzy" I called. My fire puppy bounded back to my side and then turned to face his next opponent. "Shoot a flamethrower" I decided, just picking something random. I wanted to see what Zeek was going to do before deciding my strategy. "No mercy! Go with a frenzy plant!" I saw the giant wall of plants coming towards Blitz and I knew he would take some damage. "Crank up the heat" I called, but don't unleash it till its dark!" I knew the plants were going to surround my Pokémon as they had done to Malice. With a wall of plants around you, not much light would get in.

Blitz took a deep breath and braced himself, already powering up an attack by harnessing all his energy into heat. We both knew the plants were pretty much inevitable so we worked with them instead of against them. Sure enough, the powerful attack engulfed my little Blitz. "Now were getting somewhere!" Zeek smirked as he watched my fire pokemon become surrounded by the plant move. Blitz, of course, was far from discouraged. As the plants engulfed him, the light faded. He had specific instructions about what to do when it was dark. Overheat! The whole tower of plants burst into flames as Blitz charged out. He was glowing red from his strong attack and rammed into Maganium. "One more time!" I hollered. He focused again and sent out a wave of heat in every direction. "Your on fire darling!" I smirked as the Maganum fell and Blitz mirred my smirk with his own triumphant grin. It was clear to see, however, that the two overheats had worn him down.

"Leafeon, its all on you!" Zeek called as he let out his final Pokémon. "Lets start by stretching out your legs!" I called, Blitz nodded with a warm smile, these secret codes and tricks was how the two of us won battles in the early days; When I was only nine and he was still a young pup. We had to develop our own tactics to beat the odds. Those tactics had evolved over the years, and although we both were a lot stronger, we still needed our secret tricks.

Blitz trotted around the grass type, picking up speed and bounding as if he merely wanted to run. Leafeon and Zeek were both confused, which was what I was going for. It seemed Kendo and Agony were rather mixed up as well, but after the two previous fights they realized that every odd thing I did had a purpose. "Just hit em with a razor leaf!" "Ignore it and spin!" I ordered, the razor leafs sliced through Blitz's fur, but he stayed focused and began to run in a circle, picking up more and more speed. It seemed as though Blitz was riding an invisible merry go round that was on a full out energy high. "Solar Beam now!" Zeek ordered, still completely clueless as to what the heck I was doing. I watched Blitz's feet as he ran in circles, as his footwork began to get a bit more clumsy, like a drunken man, I gave the next command. "Freeze now and use your special flamethrower." Blitz froze on the spot and the solorbeam blasted into him as he did so, but he ignored the pain. All around him, the world was still spinning. It was easy to see by the way his eyes darted around the room and his head spun a bit that my Pokémon was very dizzy. As the solar beam subsided Blitz rose his head to the ceiling and shot out a flamethrower, but his head was still spinning, as he felt like he was spinning. Therefore, the blast of fire gained a spin to it as well. "Keep it up!" I called, hoping I hadn't stopping him to early and the solar beam hadn't messed things up. Timing was everything on this move. Dizziness was everything. "That's it!" I cheered as we finally produced what we were planning for. Due to the spiny flamethrower, a fire tornado had formed in the gym. I crossed my arms across my chest as I watched Zeek's face fill with panic. There was no escaping the freak of nature as the flaming tornado slammed into leafeon. Embers flew everywhere, but Kendo was already clutching the fire hose as Agony spun the wheel. Water showered the gym and destroyed our beautiful creation before it burned down the entire gym. "Well that was, different" Zeek said as he returned the defeated leafeon "I've lost twice and this gym has barely been open an hour" he realized as he tossed be a badge shaped like a leaf. "Both of you now have a herb badge" he announced. "Good luck on your travels" We all thanked the newly defeated leader and kendo handed me a hyper potion for Blitz, which I used immediately. The poor pup was completely worn out, and he had fallen to the floor out of dizziness. "You're my brave warrior" I praised as I sprayed him then rubbed his head gently. "Now lets continue our adventure."

Kendo congratulated both of us as Agony and I congratulated each other. We slipped out of the gym with no witnesses, it seemed that the crowd had finally dispersed. "Which way?" I asked Agony, she pointed to the east and so that's where we headed, strolling though the forest of redwood trees wondering what adventures would await us now.


	9. Chapter 9: Stantler Rescue

"I'm so hungry I could eat a snorlax" I mumbled as I trudged through the woods with my friends. We had been walking for hours, and still hadn't reached the town that Agony was supposedly leading us to. "If you do I'll have to report you to the cops, and something tells me you wouldn't like to spend any length of time with Officer Jenny" I groaned at the thought "I'll get eat you instead" I decided "then you can't report me." "Will you to give it a rest already?" Agony was leaning against a tree, examining her map, waiting for us to catch up.

"We should be almost there" she mumbled as she pulled a cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled a breath of smoke. Kendo and I both made a face, still not used to the foul scent from the horrid habit. "Why don't you give those a rest!" Kendo argued, snatching the cigarette right out of Agony's hand. "Maybe I'll put you to rest!" Agony threatened, reaching for Malice's pokeball. "I'd like to see you try!" Kendo snapped back. Her handed hovered over Manectric's pokeball.

I sighed, then stepped forward and hung my arms over both their shoulders, putting myself right in between them while pulling them together. "Nothing like a bit of hunger to bring out the best in people!" I declared sarcastically. "Now, lets put all that empty-belly-anger to good use." There was a brief pause, and I thought perhaps they had realized that we needed to focus on getting to town and finding food, but of course I was wrong.

"She's right, Agony, instead of fighting each other, lets let our anger out on her. After all, she has been complaining about hunger for the past hour." Horror struck my face as I realized I was the new target. "This is mutiny!" I screamed as I took of running through the woods, my bag bounced and my blue/black hair fluttered behind me. The others were hot on my heels. "Capture on!" I heard Kendo's voice call behind me and I knew I was in trouble.

Its bad enough to know that your friends are after you, it gets worse when you realize not only are your two starved best friends chasing you, but their riding on some stantler, and accompanied by the rest of the herd. I pelted through the trees, weaving my way through them like I was in some sort of agility course. I gained speed, pressing to stay ahead, but to no avail. I soon found myself engulfed by the herd and dogging stampeding Pokémon as well as trees.

"For someone who's dying of hunger, you can surly run rather fast!" Kendo called from her seat on the wild Pokémon. I sent a nasty glare her way as I continued to run. She just grinned in response, and steered her stantler to my right side. "Aw does little frosty need a ride?" I stuck my tongue out at her, making a foul face and totally forgetting why it was so important to keep running. "Frost look out!" Agony warned. To late, A stantler rammed right into me and sent me hurling forward, right into a tree.

The sudden shock of being on the floor against a tree with a herd of stantler scared me more then the actual pain of being smashed down. It took me a moment to regain my thought, and to realize where I was. Thankfully all of the Pokémon were rather calm and going slowly, they darted around me with ease. That was, of course, till the scream broke the peace.

AHHHHHHHH! Someone was in trouble nearby! A girl had screamed as if she were under attack by pirates, and at the sound of her frightened voice all the stantler became stricken with fear and they went on a rampage. I shielded my eyes with my arm as clumps of dirt were kicked up at my face. More then once I felt the swoosh of the wind as a hoof just barely missed my head as the Pokémon darted around me. My heart raced faster, keeping in touch with the beat of the stantler's hooves against the dirt.

"Frost!" Kendo screamed, her voice teemed with worry. "Kendo, the cliff!" Agony's call was filled with that heart stopping urgency that makes you know there are lives at risk. I didn't even have to open my eyes to understand what was going on. The stampeding stantler were heading straight to a cliff, and they would run off it if they weren't calmed down soon. "I'm on it!" Kendo promised, she quickly calmed dow her own stantler, then encouraged it on to the front of the herd. She whipped her styler from the clip on her pants and held it up in the air, swinging it about like a lasso as her beam of light encircled the whole herd. Her own stantler reared up, trying to get all the Pokémon to stop or at least slow down so none of them would reach the cliff before kendo finished her capture.

The herd neared the cliff, they were only about three meters from the edge now; nine feet. Kendo and her stantler were backed to the very edge, at severe risk of being pushed of at any second. However, there was no way Kendo was going to lose that easily. She rose up on top of her stantler, carefully balancing on its back. Pooch, who had been on her shoulder the entire time, as always, clung tightly to his partner's back. With a final flick of her wrist the blue circle of trust wraped tightly around the Pokémon, then faded. Kendo's feelings had calmed them down, and they skidded to a stop just before reaching the edge.

"She did it!" Agony screamed out, punching the air in happiness. There was something wrong though, I knew the moment I whipped the dirt from my eyes and leapt to my feet. The other stantler had stopped so close that Kendo's stantler couldn't help but back up. When it did, well, it suddenly realized that was a mistake. With a terrified cry, the stantler, kendo, and poocheana all found themselves toppling over the cliff.

Agony and I lunged forward as fast as we could, everything seemed to be in slow motion. I found myself running faster then I ever had before. I dove like a football player and skid across the ground, my shirt became coated in grass stains, and my weight slowed me down just as I reached the edge, I pulled my body forward, still lying on my stomach. Looking over the cliff I saw Kendo desperately clutching the side of a rock. Poocheana was clinging to her shoulders and stantler…

Somehow Kendo had managed to attach herself to the stantler with a rope. Now the terrorized Pokémon was dangling helplessly from the ex-ranger's waist. I watched in horror, it was clear Kendo couldn't hold much longer. Her feet were wedged into a small place in the rock, she clenched her teeth. Her hands started to bleed from holding on so long. "Take Pooch" she mumbled. "I'm getting you and stantler too." I promised. "Malice, try to reach pooch" I hadn't even noticed Agony was at my side, but she defiantly took control of the situation quickly. Malice appeared in a blast of red light. He climbed down the side of the cliff, digging his sharp claws into the stone. Slowly, he neared Kendo, Pooch, and Stantler.

I desperately tried to think of a way to help, something that I could do to save my friend. Malice came up with pooch, who hopped onto the cliff then leaned down. Barking encouragement to kendo. "Try to pull kendo up" Agony ordered her Pokémon. "No" Kendo protested. He can't pull stantler and I up at the same time. Just try rescuing stantler first." Agony grinded her teeth together, we both knew getting stantler would be far more difficult. We also knew that kendo would never forgive us if we saved her first.

"We need a net of some sort." I commented. The stantler was getting really stressed, it began thrashing about, not used to being held by a rope, and not liking it one bit. I let out a horrified gasp as Kendo's foot slipped. Rocks fell towards the bottom of the cliff as Kendo gritted her teeth and pulled harder on her hands, digging them deeper into the rock. She managed the get her foot into a crevice, but I knew she couldn't last much longer. My heart beat rapidly, pounding in my chest. Agony bit her lip. I reached up and touched the stone on my neck.

For some reason, whenever I was in a tough situation, my hand automatically fluttered to the stone. Most of the time I don't even realize it, I find myself fiddling with my necklace so often it just seems natural to me. Now however, with my pounding heart drumming in my ears, I made a connection I hadn't made before. Every time I touched my necklace when I was scarred or in trouble, it would glow soon after. If it glowed when a legendary was coming, as I had recently realized, then perhaps my fear had summoned some of them. I clutched the stone and kept my eyes glued to kendo. "Please" I whispered, "please help her."

Agony was thinking hard, I could tell from how raw her lip was getting, she bit it as she brainstormed. I doubt she even realized she did. "Malace" she said, try to aid stantler in some way, see if you can scope out a ledge we could possibly lower it too" She ordered. Then Mizuki appered. "See if you can find something we can use as a net, or a harness." She ordered. A harness would be a good idea; the quick loop of rope probably wasn't very comfortable for the stantler.

An idea suddenly popped into my head. That scream -the one that frightened the stantler- it had come from someone. Perhaps that someone could help! "Blitz!" I called as I released my canine Pokémon. "Sniff out another person in the forest, I know there's a girl out there somewhere, track her down, a town if you can, perhaps she will be a near a town, we just need people. Help. A net if you can." Blitz gave a short nod and took off. I knew he could find help quickly. I glanced at my necklace; still icy blue, just like my eyes.

Malace darted up the Cliffside back to Agony with newfound zeal. He motioned down, And Agony leaned farther over the edge to see where he was pointing, I did too, almost tumbling head first to my death below. There, far down, was a medium size ledge, just perfect for the stantler. "Hang on Kendo" Agony called. "Were moving your buddy then coming to get you!" Pooch barked twice, leaning over the edge to see the cliff himself. I, thank God, reacted fast. My hands flew out and clutched the little grey Pokémon by his hind legs just as he went toppling over. I hauled him back up with ease, thankful he was so small. "No suicidal leaps" I scolded him gently, giving his head a quick pat.

"Agony. If Malace could grab Kendo's backpack, we may be able to find something we could use." "Good idea" She replied, then shouted down to Kendo. "Got any rope or hooks in your bag?" "Ropes on my waist" Kendo replied, obviously meaning she had used her only rope to tie Stantler to her. "Might have somethen'" she continued, her teeth were still clenched so it was hard to understand her, but we made out her words somehow. "Malace, cut Kendo's bag loose and brig it up." "Zang!" Malace replied, with a razor sharp claw he sliced right through the straps on Kendo's bag, then he grabbed It in his teeth as he cut the last bit and hurried up with the bag as the two straps fell, and fell, and fell. It was such a long fall!

Agony had all of Kendo's things dumped out on the floor the moment she reached the bag. She shuffled through it quickly, devising a plan with the items. There was a little hook that I had seen used for rock-climbing, a small belt like thing, I suppose for the hook. There was also a full supply of potions and healing remedies of various sorts. No use here. There was emergency cash and even a canteen of poke food as well. Agony snatched up the hook and buckled it to the belt thing, which she wrapped around her waist. Just then Mizuki came back, wheeling an old tire. "I'm not sure if Stantler will fit in that." Agony mumbled as she gave her Pokémon a quick pet for the effort. A tire. A tire swing. There had to be something. I leaned over the edge again to see how far the ledge was. That's when I saw another ledge. A few meters to the right of were Stantler was dangling.

Agony slipped her leg down the side of the cliff, trying to find footing. "What the heck are you doing?" I asked in alarm. I'm going down to Kendo, I'll hookup to her rope and the stantler, then Ill attempt to lower myself and the Pokémon to the ledge while I relive Kendo from the weight and Malace helps her climb up. "No!" I shouted. Determined not to have two friends in danger while I sat here doing nothing. "It's the only chance we've got." She stared at me, her eyes firm and determined, both of us glanced down at Kendo, she was fading fast. Stantler must be heavy.

"I'm going and that's final!" Agony announce, I opened my mouth to object again, but just then shouts could be heard through the trees. Blitz darted over to me, leading behind him a very confused looking girl. The girl had aqua-blue hair and pale purple eyes. "What's going on?" She asked. She started to say something else, but whatever it was I completely ignored it. My focus was only on one thing, the coil of rope in her hand. Like a starved savage reaching for food, I lunged for that rope. I ripped it out of her grasp without a single word of warning, then snatched up another hook from the pile of Kendo's things. My whole body was powered by a burst of adrenaline. I wrapped the other end of the rope around the tire and tied it securely with a knot my father had taught me to make. I took the end with the hook on it and darted to the closest tree. I embraced the big tree, wrapping the rope around it as I did so. I tied another knot; this time with a loop, and I hooked the hook onto the loop. "Pull this up when we say so! "I said to the girl. Blitz and Mizuki, lower the tire down. Agony! Hook yourself up the rope the tires on. It's attached to a tree. When you get to Kendo attach Stantler to the tree as well!" I ordered. Then I grabbed I picked up the third and final hook from kendo's supply. There wasn't another belt, so I attacked it to my belt loop on my pants, then to the rope attached to the tree and the tire. The pokmon had lowered the tire down completely. I glanced down, it was in a perfect positioning. I smiled with pride, then lowered myself over the cliff just as Agony had.

"Frost, what heck?" "I'm going to get Stantler to the ledge once ya got it hooked." I explained. "There's no way I'm letting you lower it down yourself. "you worry about Kendo!" I called, I lowered myself further down, taking each step slowly. Agony made her way over to Kendo, struggling to find footholds. "Hold the rope in both hands and propel yourself down a bit." I Instructed "Your hooked the tree, it will hold. Agony glanced at me, then put all her faith in the rope, the tree, and my knot tying skills that were holding the two together. She let go of the rock, clutched to the rope, and lowered herself. She bounced against the wall, kicking off with her feet like a pro. I smiled when she found footholds again, then I kept advancing down. I propelled to when I got to the spot, and soon all three of us were next to Kendo.

"Agony, we need to switch" I announced, only realizing this just now. My destination was lower then hers, and she was further down on the rope then I. "Crap" Was her reply. I clung to the wall, feeling like an Aipom, or perhaps a trecoo. With one hand, I slowly undid the clip and reached down to a lower part of the line, past Agony's clip. I buckled myself back in and breathed a huge sigh of relief once I was securely fastened again. Agony nodded her approval, then reached over to Kendo. "Is there another clip?" she asked. Grimly I shook my head. Agony undid her own clip and attached Kendo to the tree. "Alright guys, pull them up!" Agony called. I doubted the girl could pull up all of us. Kendo's hands were worn so raw from holding up her and Stantler that it would be hard for her to climb. Agony and I could, but Stantler would still be a lot of weight. Malice, move up and help!" Agony replied. Malice had been watching us, guarding us protectively the whole time, but on command, he nimbly climbed up the top to help pull the rope.

There was a quick tug, and the tire came back up as the rope gently slid through the hooks. Once the big rubber object reached us, Agony instructed Kendo to cling to it, and push against the wall with her feet. "Kendo's getting on!" I called up. "brace yourselves!" Kendo's weight shifted onto the tire, and there was a pause. "I cant pull her!" the girl called down. I turned to Agony. "Your stronger then me, you climb up and help her pull, I'll stay and make sure Kendo and Stantler get up safely. The poor Pokémon was still dangling helplessly. I eyed the cliff. That was my back up plan if they couldn't pull Kendo and Stantler up. I would cling to the tire and they would let the rope down until I was at Stantler's level. Then I would grab him and swing the tire until we both rocked to the ledge. Stantler and I could wait there until Kendo was up, ten they would send the rope down again for us. I shared my plan with my friends, but they shook their heads; Kendo especially. "Look guys, I'll climb down to the ledge and wait." She offered. "You get stantler up, then send for me. Agony shook her head and began climbing up. "I'm getting you both up now!" She announced. "Then take this!" Kendo took the hook that had attached her to the tree and gave it to Agony. I've got the tire to hang on to, you take the clip to be safe. "Agony wasn't going to waste time arguing. "Don't let go." She ordered as she climbed up farther. "And the clips coming back down once I'm up."

Kendo and I hung on, with stantler letting out a nervous bleat. The other stantler were still all around at the top, perhaps they would help pull! "Agony get the stantler to help too!" I hollered. She nodded, then finally reached the top and hauled herself back up. The clip slid down on the rope, just as she had said it would. Kendo caught it and hooked herself back up. The girl peered over the cliff. We must have looked pretty strange; two girls clinging to a tire with a stantler swinging helplessly on a rope below us. Yeah, that was a sight you'd see again.

"You guys alright?" the girl called. She had a sleek blue dress, very delicate and graceful looking. Her hair was tied back by a big burette with a pokeball clipped to it. Now that was a new one, clipping your Pokémon to a hair clip. "yes! Completely!" I called up in reply. "I just live spending my afternoons clinging to the side of a cliff!"

"Oh no, the complaining is ganna start again!" Kendo offered me a mischievous look, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "Hey now your complaining about my complaining you dork!" I mumbled. "Your complaining about my complaining about your complaining!" Kendo shot back, our voices raised with each additional complaining as we kept arguing back and forth. Soon we were screaming. "Your complaining about me complaining about you complaining about me complaining about you complaining about me complaining about you complaining about me complaining!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Guys! Shut up or I'm letting you both fall to your doom!" Agony hollered back at us. "She's complaining about us complaining" I mumbled. Kendo laughed lightly and soon the pulling started again and we were both being pulled up at a nice pace. Stantler cried out in joy. Kendo and I both hung onto the tire and kicked against the wall. Kendo kept checking down on the Pokémon, her only concern was the Pokémon, as always.

We were almost to the top when suddenly a loud scream broke through the trees. It was the same scream as before, the girl who was pulling us up along with Agony. For a split second, I thought maybe just a big Pokémon had scared her, but when I heard Agony curse and Pooch and Blaze snarl menacingly, I knew there was no such luck. Before I knew was to do, the three of us, Kendo stantler and I, were suddenly falling down to our doom, tire and all. Someone had cut the rope. "KENDO! FROST!" Agony screamed out in desperation and Blitz and Pooch let out mournful howls. I saw everyone's faces suddenly appear gazing down the cliff. Agony, Malice, Mizuki, Blitz, Pooch, the girl, a bunch of stantlers, and a bunch of guys from team rocket. Wow, everyone had come together to see the show. The first thing I realized was the sudden change of expression on everyone's faces. From fear to shock. The second thing I realized was that I wasn't falling anymore. In fact, I was flying. We all were flying, Kendo, stantler, and I. Flying on three giant birds. Wonderful, life-saving birds. In all the terror I hadn't noticed my necklace change color. Now, I did. Blue red and yellow; those were the colors of my necklace as well of the colors of the birds. I let out a huge sigh of relief, and turned myself over, so I was lying on the bird on my belly, and faced the big vast canyon in front of me instead of everyone's amazed faces. This sure beat falling, in fact, this beat a lot of things. Kendo and I rested happily on our saviors, and even stantler seemed to be enjoying the ride, We cruised around in a wide, gently turn and headed back. I rested my head in the feathers of my new friend. "Thank you." I whispered. "Thank you"


	10. Chapter 10: Save Our Saviors

Kendo and I had greatly enjoyed our exhilarating flight, but the poor, frightened stantler, was not nearly as thrilled. For a Pokémon accustomed to the ground, he was doing quite well, but Kendo could tell he wasn't happy. Putting Pokémon first, as always, she gave the command to head back to the others and the three birds did so without question, setting the three of us gently onto the ground.

The first thing we noticed was the net, flung helplessly over at us, as if it had merely been tossed by a little kid, instead of three full grown men. The second thing we noticed were their uniforms, which were black outfits that didn't seem to fit any of them quite right. The last thing we noticed, of course, was the fact that these three grunts were staring at us with open jaws and blank faces.

It was clear to see that they had been ready for a fight. One of the grunts had stepped up to challenge Agony, another one stepped up to challenge the new blue-haired girl that had helped with the rescue mission, and the third grunt was scrambling to a giant net over all the stantler, that was, of course, until we so rudely interrupted.

"I order thee to proclaim to me where these unimaginable creatures came from!" Everyone, including the other grunts, stared at the speaker with vacant expressions. Finally, Agony spoke. "Dude, get with the times, that aint how ya talk." She said, rolling her eyes and digging in her pocket for a cigarette. The new girl with blue hair, slightly darker then mine, giggled at the comment. It was quite clear from the amazement on her face, however, that she was wondering the same thing. Where did we get three legendary birds?

Kendo stepped forward, right in front of the grunt who had spoke, and stared at him with serious eyes. "That doesn't concern you." She pointed out, giving a clear hint that we would reveal absolutely no information. "Oh but it does" another grunt gave a toothy grin. He seemed to step closer, as if unafraid. "And you will tell us!" the third grunt chimed in. Kendo paused a moment, simply listening. Agony and the other girl and I did too. A helicopter! Yes, the sound was getting louder now. More grunts, or worse, some commanders, were on their way.

Agony took charge of the situation without a moments hesitation, "Kendo, get the stantler back into the woods and away from rocket." She ordered. "Frost, you and the new girl take care of all the grunts." She continued. From the look on her face I knew what she had in mind for herself. She was going straight to the top.

I gave the new girl a friendly smile, feeling bad that I still didn't know her name. Now, however, was not the time for introductions. "Shoo!" I shouted, waving my arms wildly and rushing up to the legendary birds. They simply blinked, wondering if I was a mental case. "Fly away!" I repeated more firmly, not wanting the Pokémon responsible for saving our lives to wind up in the possession of team rocket.

The girl stepped forward, waving her arms just as I had done, shouting at the legendary birds as well. Her shouts and mine were both covered up by the roar of the helicopter as the monstrous flying machine hovered, then landed. Agony grinded her teeth together. Both of her Pokémon were out and ready for fight. Kendo had herded the stantler back into the safety of the trees and she was now standing next to Agony. Pooch was on her shoulder, and Sparks and Manecric were each on one side of her.

"Showtime" I grinned, doing a merry little spin. No use trying to scare the birds of now, they had already been spotted. Now, it was our job to fight of team rocket and protect the legendaries from their greedy, filthy hands. That would be a blast!

"Mudkip mud!" I looked down at the mudkip next to Blitz. It was young, but strong, just like it's trainer. "Alright, lets do this!" The four of us waited as a dozen grunts piled out of the helicopter. "Kendo, you take the left four! New girl, you take the right four! I call center!" Mudkip's trainer glanced at Agony, as if wondering why she wasn't fighting. She was about to ask but Kendo shot her a silencing look. That was the last glimpse I saw of both Kendo and the new girl before we were all surrounded by the battle.

"Blitz, flamethrower!" I called "spin as you do it to hit everyone! There's a goldbat above you!" We were fighting all four grunts at once, which was a fun challenge. There were enemy Pokémon everywhere, swarming us like combees swarm teddiersas who try to steal their honey. I caught a glimpse of Agony sneaking into the helicopter. The way she snuck in, ruthlessly knocked out anyone who spotted her, and headed straight for what she needed, made her seem as if she were one of them. A head commander in the team of villains.

Through the sea of black uniforms, I saw a glimpse of a blue dress. "Blitz, work your way to the right!" I called, wanting to check up on my new friend and make sure she was holding her ground. Blitz did as he was told, hurling blasts of fire at his foes as he did so. All of the Pokémon were crowding him, this was more then four! I suddenly realized that the grunts had sent out all of their Pokémon at once! It added up to thirteen Pokémon facing Blitz at one time. I quickly glanced around and noticed that my friends were in similar positions. "Pull in!" I exclaimed quickly. My teeth grinned tightly as I watched Blitz get ganged up on "hang on tight buddy" I pleaded.

Finally I saw Kendo and her faithful trio press through the crowd. The girl and her Mudkip were having a tad more trouble, but Blitz helped out by blasting a few goldbats out of the way. Soon us three trainers were side by side with out Pokémon in front of us. "We need a combined attack!" I said, stating the obvious.

Kendo gave a simple nod "Sparks and Blitz can do a fire duo." She volunteered. "and manecrtic and mudkip can team up too." I turned to the girl, finally asking the question I should of asked the moment Blitz led her over to us. "What's your name?"

"Ally!" the girl replied with a laugh, offering out her hand. I gave it a quick shake and replied with a simple "Frost" before turning my attention back to the chaos around us. "Lets blast these thief's!" I cheered, my friends joined in with battle cries, as did the Pokémon.

The plan worked better then one could expect! First, Sparks and Blaze stepped forward and teamed up, both of them spinning with flamethrowers in perfect formation. Evidently Kendo had taught the trick to her Pokémon, and boy was a glad she did. A fire tornado shot it in each direction, one made by each Pokémon, and crashed into all of their foes. Team rocket grunts were truly stunned. All twelve of them shielded their faces from the blast. The heat was too intense for even them. Some of the Pokémon collapsed. They had had enough of the battle, the rest, however, pressed on. Both fire Pokémon were exhausted from the great effort. Kendo returned Sparks, and Blitz darted back to my side. Next, Mudkip and Manetric stepped forward. Mudkip soaked the entire battlefield with a blast of water. Some Pokémon seemed refreshed by it, but they wouldn't be for long. The water served as a double purpose. It put out the fire before it spread to the forest. Also, however, water conducted electricity, which was why it was perfect in between the blast of fire, and the burst of lighting that Manectric was producing now. Electricity spread just as the wildfire had.

After that teamed up attack, every rocket Pokémon was down. The three of us exchanged satisfactory grins as team rocket returned their fallen Pokémon and scurried back to the helicopter. We all returned are wounded pokemon when we realized two very important things. The first one was that the legendary birds were gone, and the second was that Agony was in the helicopter when it took off.

"Your friend's in there!" Ally exclaimed. She clipped Mudkips pokeball back to her hairclip then turned to the two of us. Either of you have a flying Pokémon?" She wondered. I shook my head then glanced at Kendo, about to ask if she would capture something with her styler. When I turned to her, though, I realized she was way ahead of me. Kendo was already springing through the trees in search of a bird. I glanced at the stone around my neck. The red, blue, and yellow were fading fast. "Hurry Kendo!" I hollered, knowing that if they got to far away it would be quite hard to track them down.

Minutes ticked by, Kendo was long gone. I sat on the floor puling at the charred grass as Ally paced back and forth "Maybe she was eaten by a pack of hungry mighteanas. Maybe she was lost and tricked by the illusions the stantlers make. Maybe she was jumped by more team rocket members. They jumped me you know! They leapt right out of the bushes and tried to take Mudkip! They said they wanted to steal Pokémon from weak trainers! The nerve of it all! We sure showed them who was weak!" I look up at her. She seemed about twelve years old, and her aqua hair had a slight hint of a wave to it, like ocean waters. Her pale purple eyes were filled with a youthful spirit. "Is mudkip your only?" I asked, she shook her head. "I've got lovedisk too! She exclaimed merrily, rubbing her finger over another pokeball on her barret in her hair." "Interesting way of holding your Pokémon." "I wanted to be different." I smiled lightly at her answer, tugging more of the brown grass in my fingers. For some reason, I loved the feeling of burnt things. Perhaps I had been around Blitz for to long.

"Guess who's back!" I scrambled to my feet at the sound of Kendo's voice. She grinned widely "It's our lucky day, the pigeot were passing through" She pointed up at three big birds she had captured. I grinned widely and darted forward. "Oh master poke-catcher I shall not push you of another cliff for the rest of the day!" I promised as I extended a hand to the big pigeot in a quick form of an introduction. "Did you just catch all these?" Ally asked, her voice was filled with amazement. "I'm A ranger, we don't really catch Pokémon like trainers do." She explained "It's more like borrowing them, there just flying us over and then there free." Ally still seemed a bit uncertain, but we could explain more about rangers later, right now, we had a helicopter to chase.

"Lets fly!" I called excitedly. "Race you!" Kendo countered, gently easing herself onto the bird, then waiting till we were ready. "Liftoff!" she ordered. I had to hang on with all my might not to tumble off backwards the moment we started. How could rangers do this so easily? I closed my eyes and tried to find my balance. Riding the legendary had been so much easier! It was bigger for starters. Pus, we didn't have to lift off!

I glanced at Ally. She was struggling a little, but not as much as I was. Most likely because she was smaller then me. I repositioned myself again and leaned forward. "Faster!" I pleaded. It always felt weird ordering around Pokémon that I didn't know. Pigiot, however, obeyed without question and sped up. I smirked as I started gaining on Kendo, but then ally swooped past both of us. "Your not going to leave me out, are you?" she asked playfully. Kendo just grinned, then her pigiot took of out of a rocket, swirling and looping and gaining on Ally with ease. I was always amazed how Kendo and the Pokémon she captured acted united, like they were one.

We, on the other hand, were not one; my pigiot and I. I tried to get Pigeot to swoop and dive as Kendo's had done, but this time, she wasn't as convinced. Speeding up was one thing, doing tricks was entirely different.

The pigeot gave me a sharp peck on my side as a warning, but of course, being the idiot I am I let out some sort of surprised yelp and moved my hand to my side. That means I let go of the bird, who was now picking up speed again to keep up with the others. I slipped off, much to the surprise of the bird and myself. Dropping through the air without a parachute is not my cup of tea.

Quick as a pacherisu on a sugar rush, Kendo whipped out her styler and caught a ferow. The larger bird dove, and swept me up and I clung to it like a baby clings to its mother. My heart was thumping in my chest like a nervous rabbit foot thumping against the ground in anticipation. I glanced up to see Kendo's relived face and Ally's look of shock. I offered them a goofy grin before turning serious again and commanding Ferrow to head up to the helicopter.

Sounds of shouts erupted from the helicopter and we knew Agony had been discovered. "Hurry" Kendo commanded. She steered her pigeot closer, then leapt from the bird onto team rocket's machine. No longer needed, Kendo's pigeot flew off. Ally slipped of her bird just like Kendo did, leaping onto the metal, but loosing her footing as the helicopter suddenly lurched forward. Quick reaction on Kendo's part was the only reason Ally wasn't free falling to the forest below. "Stay here and hang on" Kendo ordered as she slowly eased herself to the front of the airplane.

Kendo looked like a lizard, inching forward by first sliding her arms forward, then pulling her legs closer. "You're an inch worm!" I teased as I glided over to the helicopter with me ferrow. "Shut up Frost!" She snapped at me, trying not to mess up her concentration.

More shouts could be heard from inside the helicopter. Now that I was closer I could identify Agony's voice among the shouting. Suddenly, the whole copter swerved out of control. "That's right! Leave your dumb grunts to the steering and fight me like a man!" Agony was challenging the pilot? She must have no idea Kendo and Ally were on the helicopter! The entire thing lurched again and for the third time in an hour I heard the frightened scream of Ally. "I got her!" I called out as Ferrow tucked in its wings and dropped like a bomb towards the screaming, flailing twelve year old that had slipped of the top of the aircraft.

"Gotcha!" By some sort of miracle Ally landed on top of the Ferrow with me. Her eyes were flooded with fear and she was practically chocking for breath. "Hang on" I ordered. "We're going up again!" Ferrow, worn out from catching two trainers, reluctantly flew back up to the helicopter. "Stay here Ally!" I called as I leapt onto the back of the helicopter. I let my feet slide as I landed and clenched a bar on the top of the copter so hard that my knuckled turned albino. "Right behind you Kendo!" Kendo shot a quick, stern glance back at me. Her face was super serious. "Try not to die!" she hissed. Then she wiggled forward more until she was at the entrance of the helicopter. She swung herself in with ease. I mimicked her inchworm crawling technique, which was extremely helpful when trying not to die and climbing across the roof of a flying helicopter. I too swung myself in, not with as much ease as the ranger, but at least I didn't fall to a horrid death below.

"What are you doing here?" One of the grunts exclaimed as about five of them jumped up and glared at us. "The door was open so we thought we'd drop in." I offered a very sarcastic smile "I hope you like visitors!" I sang merrily as I tossed a pokeball at them and my trusted partner appeared in front of them. Blitz was still worn out from his last encounter with the grunts all of ten minutes ago, but he did a great job of hiding it. "Growl Growl!" He barked, baring his teeth in a threatening manner. Kendo tossed out Manectric, but her focus was not on a fight. She was scaning the plane for Agony.

"Mercy! Mercy!" "That aint my name, so don't expect me to show you any!" A terrified wail of a man told us that we had found Agony. "Have fun Frost!" Kendo called as she took off towards Agony's voice and the helpless cry of her victim. Manectric ran at her side, shocking everyone who tried to stop her. Pooch, of course, was clutching her shoulder as he always was. The little grey puppy was a pro at hanging onto Kendo no matter what crazy thing she was doing.

The five grunts advanced on Blitz and I, trying to get us to back out of the helicopter. I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to see what awaited us below. "Ready Blitz?" I asked. He had no idea what he was ready for, but he gave a quick bar anyways. "Good, cuz here we go." I jumped straight up, grabbing a bar that was there for people to hold as they peered out of the helicopter. "Light as a feather Blitz!" I called. He froze, letting his body relax completely. By my words, he knew he would be picked up and tossed.

I swung myself on the bar, at one point my legs were outside of the helicopter. I gave myself another swing, going further out this time. "Here we go!" I swung out once more, and as I swept back in I wrapped my feet around the body of my little fire partner. He flew out with me, Suspended mid-air about 50 feet up only by my feet. He didn't tense up or freak out though. If he did, He would have fell for sure. It took all of his self control to stay calm, but he did, and as the momentum we had build up pulled us back into the helicopter, I let go of Blitz.

He was launched over the heads of the grunts and landed on his feet like a cat. He whirled around and faced the grunts. "Fire blast!" happily, Blitz obeyed and unleashed a blast of fire from his mouth that sent all of the startled grunts right out of the copter. I fell to the floor once they were gone, unable to hold myself up any longer. "Good boy!" I praised as I peered down and saw all of the grunts thrashing around helplessly in the water below. Of course I had checked to make sure we were above water before starting the whole stunt. If they fell on land, well, that would have been a bit more painful for them. True I was already a wanted criminal, but I preferred not to add murder to my record.

"Come on buddy, let's go find Kendo and Agony!" The two of us raced across the helicopter, slamming against the wall as it swerved to the side again. "Dang it, first thing I'm going to do is throw that good for nothing pilot overboard for the sharpedos to eat!" I ran forward again and yanked open the door to the control room. Inside was a scene of pure chaos.

First of there was Agony. She had a grown man with a different uniform on, a commander I suppose, in a headlock. It appeared that she was giving him an extreme nogie with her other hand while kneeing him in the stomach. "Tell me what I wanna know!" She snapped angrily, looking as though she was ready to murder. Not just the –chew-off-the-head-of-a-chocolate-easterbunny kind of murder. Agony's face seemed like the serious, serial killer (and not the edible cereal) kind of murderer.

Then there was the man, Agony's victim. He seemed far from innocent, but determined not to reveal anything. His eyes blazed fiercely at Agony. His eyes fell to Malice, who was standing besides Agony. "What are you ganna do, missy? Kill me?" His face was full of goofy pride. He knew the teenage girl that was clutching him so firmly would not kill him, and he was mocking her.

Thirdly, there was Kendo. She was desperately trying to pull the two apart. "No ones killing anyone! Were all fine and dandy here! Lets just go on back to land and continue on out little journey, come on Agony!" Kendo tried to pry her friend's arm from the man's neck. "Just let go and we'll leave."

The fourth contributing factor to the scene of madness was the current pilot. He was playing with the controls as if it were some videogame. Shouting "Weeee" as he pulled the joint stick back and "yeee-haww" as he shoved it forward again. His childish actions were the reason Blitz and I were smashed against the wall more then once on our way over here. Before I could even think about what to do about my fighting friends and the commander, I stepped forward, yanked the grunt out of the control chair, rolled down the window, and literally shoved him out of the window of the helicopter into the water.

"Frost did you just…" Kendo glanced over at me, he eyes filled with pure shock. "What?" I asked innocently "were over water, he'll live." Kendo didn't even know what to say, and I turned to the control panel to see the last part of the chaos of the room. Poocheana franticly jumping on all of the buttons hoping to find some way to turn of the flashing red danger sign.

"Did you guys know the copter blew an engine?" I asked casually, leaning against the control table as the helicopter began hurling downwards. "Yeah I did that!" Agony said proudly as she tightened her grip on her victim. Kendo gave both of us a look of utter annoyance then darted over to the pilot seat and pulled back, bring us up higher into the air again. "You two are horrible!" she scolded. "Thanks" I said, then turned to Agony. "Might as well toss him overboard, he aint worth our time. Agony glared at the man, kneed him in the stomach once more, then dragged him over to the open window. "Wait!" I called; she turned her head towards me. "I think Kendo wants to do it." Both of us turned to Kendo, who smiled innocently, strolled over, then shoved the guy out of the helicopter. All three of us watched him splash into the water. "Alright, I admit it, pushing people of the helicopter is fun," She said. The thee of us exchanged a high-five, then raced to the back of the helicopter. Blitz Manecric Malice and Pooch darted after us, the red warning light still flashing.

"The birds are in here!" Agony explained as she pressed a button on the wall and opened the doors to a big cell. Kendo snatched a key that was hanging on the wall and unlocked all three cages and Agony and I pulled the giant doors of the back of the helicopter open. "Lets fly!" The three of us each jumped onto a legendary bird. It was me on the fire one, Moltros, with Blitz tuched up carefully between the bird and my arm. Then there was Kendo on the electric bird, Zapdos with Pooch on her head and manectric returned. Agony was, of course, on the ice one, Articuno. The three of us flew away from the plane, joining Ally who was hovering on the Ferrow, waiting for us. "Fly fast!" Agony ordered "Its ganna blow!" The four of us picked up speed and then, KABOOM! Parts of the machine rained down onto all of the grunts who were in the water, and their overly cocky commander. "Have fun swimming home!" Agony screamed at the top of her lungs. "That's what you get for trying to steal legendaries!" Kendo chimed in. "I hope sharpedos decapitate you!" I sang merrily as my friends gave me a rather concerned look. "And eat your guts!" Ally added lastly. I chuckled "I'm a great influence, aren't I?" My friends responded only by rolling their eyes.


	11. Chapter 11: Shiny Mission

After we landed, we split up into the woods in search of berries. Kendo, of course, had some emergency snacks in her ranger bag, but we needed more food then that for the four off us to have a satisfying meal. Since it was already dusk, we decided to camp out in the woods another night rather then attempt to find town. Ally promised to lead us to the town in the morning, but due to an old ghost tale, she refused to travel through the woods at night.

"Frost, did you find enough yet?" I glanced down at the stash of berries I had stuffed into my bag. "Just a few more, Kendo!" I called through the trees. "Meetcha back at the clearing then! I can't carry anymore!" I listened as her footsteps faded, then I made my way over to another bush and plucked of a few of the juiciest berries. I was about to turn back when I saw a humongous apple tree. It seemed to be beckoning me over, and the fruit screamed "take me" Of course I was unable to resist the delicious looking food, so I raced over and reached up for the fruit. Instead of feeling the smooth apples on my hand, I found my whole arm coated in a sticky web.

"EKKKK!" I squealed as I jumped back and shook my arm franticly. I stepped back in horror, but tripped and landed on my rear. Webs were shot out from the tree in every direction until they blocked all escape. I screamed again and struggled to my feet, but there was nowhere to run. I stood, paralyzed by fear. Suddenly, out of the tree, leapt the monster! Here to eat his prey!

"GET AWAY GET AWAY!" I was traumatized now, and waved my arms franticly. _Twack!_ I hit the attacker and sent him flying back, then I spun and bolted. Crashing right through the webs, which stuck to me body as I ran. "GET OFFF!" I shouted as I tried to remove the clinging webs. I wasn't watching where I was running, just as long as it was away from the monster.

I stumbled backwards and landed on the floor again when I collided with Kendo. She fell on the floor too, but was quickly back to her feet and shaking me. Her hands firmly on my shoulders and her eyes filled with concern as I stood trembling. "Frost what the heck happened." She asked as she shook me again, trying to bring me out of the state of shock. "Spa-Spa-Spa" I stammered. "Spinerack!" the monster finished my word. It had caught up! I dashed of again, breaking free of Kendo's grasp. Nonchalantly, Agony reached out and grabbed the end of my shirt as I passed by. I knew I was running in place while she held my shirt, but I still couldn't stop. I had to run even though it was getting me no where.

There was me, screaming my head of and running on an invisible treadmill. While Kendo stood cooing in delight at the spider Pokémon that attacked me, and Agony held me in place while glancing at the web structure like a critic in an art show. Lastly, there was Ally, standing there dumfounded, mindlessly munching on the berries she had picked while wondering what on Earth was going on.

Blitz and Pooch bounded up to us. They had been assigned to guard camp, but after hearing all of our ruckus they decided to come investigate. Pooch rushed to meet Kendo's new best eight-legged friend while Blitz trotted to my side. He scanned the situation, then decided that Agony holding me and my desperate screaming was more of a game then a threat. He sat down and barked at me for a few moments, but once he realized I wasn't going to stop squealing and running, he wondered off towards the wall of webs.

Blitz knew me well enough to know that even though I was screaming in fright, I was in no danger. Another Pokémon, however, did not. I didn't notice my necklace change colors, but Agony saw her own stone flash in her pocket. She let go of my shirt, and instead of running I face-planted the floor because I was so used to fighting against her pull that, without it, I was rather unbalanced.

"Something's coming" Agony warned as she fingered her ocean-blue stone. I spit out dirt then raised my head to see what she was talking about. Kendo too, stopped hugging the little Spinearak to look over. "Mana! Mana!" The sweet song echoed through the air just before a cheery blue Pokémon flew in. The Pokémon was a beautiful aqua-blue color and he had a red circle on his chest and two antennas on his head. Yellow circles surrounded his blue eyes and he had two more yellow dots above each eye. "Manaphy" Agony identified the Pokémon in a quiet, respectful voice. "Mana!" The manaphy shouted again, then he swooped down and looked at my shocked face. "Phy?" he asked. Somehow I knew he was asking me what was wrong. "Um…Sorry I'm fine" I said slowly, finally getting a hold of myself after that traumatic experience. Manaphy flew up again and looked at all four of us. He seemed to be wondering what he was doing here, and what was going on.

"I think he came because you were screaming, Frost" Kendo realized. Ally waved at the legendary. "Your so cute!" she exclaimed. Manaphy just hovered, until a bark sounded from near the apple tree; the scene of the attack.

I recognized Blitz's bark and raced over to the sound of his voice. This particular bark was one that I knew meant he had found something. I heard more footsteps behind me, but I didn't slow down to wait for my friends. I only stopped when I reached Blitz and Manaphy. Both Pokémon were staring at the giant spider web. I shivered; the web was one of the last things I wanted to see. "Blitz" I scolded, "forget this, lets go home!" Manaphy glanced back at me with startled eyes, but Blitz ignored me. He padded into the cage of webs and disappeared behind the trees. "Blitz, get back here right now! Blitz Hill!" I raised my voice and stopped my foot in frustration. I really did not want to go into the web maze after him. There was no reply, however, and when Manaphy flew into the web maze too, realized I'd have to go. I heard Kendo, Agony, and Ally coming after me, but Blitz was my responsibility and I wouldn't make my friends fetch my disobedient puppy for me. With one last deep breath, I slowly moved a sheet of web to the side and ducked into the opening that I had made myself when I raced right through the wall.

"Blitz?" I called as I strolled through the web-covered trees. The web surrounded it all like a tent. It was like I was in my own worst nightmare. It was getting darker out, and colder. "Blitz, baby where are you?" I let my voice ring out into the forest, but I was answered by nothing. I stood there, truly worried now. I was alone in the maze of spinerak webs. The night seemed to approach more rapidly as I stood there alone. It was only about a minute, but it felt like an hour. I dared not move, Blitz never ran off like this, and he never refused to answer me. Finally I heard another voice call out. "Frost?" It was Agony. "I can't find Blitz!" I called back as I glanced around. "Where are you?" "Do you see spinerak?" Kendo's voice brought the second question. Spineak? That was the last thing I wanted to see. Goosebumps spread across my arms just at the thought and I took a step back. My face turned pale white as soon as i did.

I had bumped into something, and not just anything, the one thing I feared most. To make things even worse, it was now climbing up my back. I felt like my whole body had been paralyzed. I just stood there frozen until it reached my shoulder and its ugly eyes were peering at my face.

My eyes locked with the eyes of the treacherous spider Pokémon and all sanity was lost. I let out an ear-splattering shriek and jumped up and down thrashing about like a wild women.

"Spinerak found her" Kendo realized with a chuckle as my terrified screams rang through the trees. "Agony rolled her eyes, then took of in the direction of the screaming. Ally and Kendo raced after her. Pooch darted after Kendo, her constant shadow.

"Spinerak come here sweetie, your about to give little Frosty a heart attack." Kendo coed to her spider as I stared at her with a very angry, panic-stricken face. Agony just rolled her eyes "Give it a rest Frost, it aint ganna kill you" She mumbled. Out came the cigarette and puffs of smoke surrounded Ally, Kendo, and I. Ally coughed "Why did you run in here, Frost" she asked as she tried to fan away the smoke with her hand. I brushed the dirt of my clothes. I faintly remembered hurling myself to the ground in an attempt to rid myself of the spider Pokémon. "Blitz came in here." I explained simply. "Where is he now?" Kendo asked. Her question was answered by a faint yip. Sure, Blitz answers her but he won't respond to my calls. Typical guy.

The four of us, as well as pooch and, unfortunately, spinerak, charged through the trees until we reached Blitz. The fire puppy was sitting in front of a huge section of the web. His brownish golden eyes were transfixed on something towards the top of the wall of web. All of us looked up. There stuck in the huge web, was a noctowl.

"It all makes sense now, The Noctowl was accidently caught in Spinerak's web, so Spinerack made the giant tent of webs around Noctowl so that no one could harm it. When he saw you, he most have thought that you could help and tried to get your attention, Frost." Kendo said. She had solved the puzzle, which was great. Now, however, we ran into the problem of getting the bird out of the giant spider web.

"Alight Blitz, you set that part of the web on fire. Manaphy, your on standby. Make sure you put out the fire before it reaches Noctowl. Malice, once all of the webs on that tree are burned away I need you to climb up it and get ready to jump." Agony seemed to have a plan. She was bossing around all the Pokémon in a long array of commands.

Whatever her plan was, it was very complex. Kendo and I just watched as her idea took the form of reality. Malice raced up the tree the instant it was freed from the webs. Sparks burnt the webs off the other tree, and thus sent the poor Noctowl hurling down. The shinny zigzagoon launched himself off the branch and straight towards the falling, tangled bird. He collided with a startled noctowl and got tangled in the web along with the bird, but his legs were free. Manaphy dosed the flaming ends of the webbed bundle while Malice positioned himself perfectly. He landed on his feet with the noctowl stuck to him like glue. Everyone cheered, then Agony, Kendo, and I all worked to untangle the two Pokémon.

"Agony you're a genius!" Ally cheered as she joined us. "But what are we going to do with Noctowl? He doesn't seem to want to leave." Ally was right. The bird was free, but just stood there, staring at us. It was like he was waiting for something. His head turned as he blinked at us with huge owl eyes. "You want to come with us, don't you." Agony guessed. "Towwwl!" replied the owl. Agony laughed, then pulled out an empty pokeball and hurled it at the bird. In a flash of red, the noctowl was hers.

"Bravo!" I said to Agony as she hooked the new pokeball onto her belt and returned her other two Pokémon. Kendo called her Pokémon back as well, then bent down to Spinerak. "You wanna join us too, little buddy?" she cooed. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes widened in absolute horror. '_Please no please no!' _ I repeated again and again in my mind. The little bug Pokémon, however, was more then happy to join Kendo. In another flash of light, he too disappeared and became part of our big loving family. I didn't care what Kendo said, I could never love that spider.

"Well Frost, looks like it's your turn to catch something." Agony said with a smirk as she turned to me. "You know, I think I saw an Aridos on the way over here." My face turned as white as snow. The only thing on this earth that was worse then a spinerak, was the big creepy evolve form. I shuddered at the thought of those eight long legs of doom. "HECK NO!" I shouted as I began to tremble. As I child, I had many nightmares of those giant spiders crawling though my window and murdering me in the safety of my very room.

My so-called friends went hysterical at my over reaction. I just glared with my arms folded across my chest until the teasing stopped. Once they were all calm. Ally asked the famous question. "Now what?" Manaphy had flown off when the bantering had started, and now the forest was getting rather dark. Agony pulled out her big map and Kendo pulled out a flashlight from her backpack of infinite possibilities. The bag was a sorry-state. Since the old straps went cliff diving, she had replaced them with rope. We'd have to remember to buy her a new bag next time we went to a town.

"Alright, so were somewhere in this forest" Agony said as her finger glided across the map to a patch of trees along the side. "The next hit house is just to the North" she finished. I watched her finger move upwards and land on a red dot. "A wealth, abusive owner" Kendo recalled from the first time Agony had shown us the map. The older girl nodded and turned to us with a serious face. "I'm breaking in and teaching them a lesson." She said. "Its jailbreak time!" Kendo and I turned to one another, as if trying to decide if what Agony was suggesting was with our ethics, or against them.

"Well, we have to save the Pokémon." Kendo pointed out with a sigh. It must be hard as a ranger to result to breaking into a house and stealing, she was supposed to protect both the Pokémon and the citizens. "Spoiled rich brats deserve to be robbed anyways." I said, trying to make her feel better. I honestly was just as freaked out. My mother was a very well known researcher. If anyone found out that her daughter was a wanted criminal, her career could be over.

"Don't worry guys, I've done this plenty of times." Agony assured us as she rolled up her map. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to relax us, or freak us out even more. The only one of us that seemed excited, however, was Ally. She was jumping up and down in anticipation, thrilled to be planning something illegal.

"Rest up, eat some berries, think of a plan. We're going to rob 'em in 20 min sharp. I'm going to scope the place first." Agony called as she headed off through the woods, leaving the tree of us behind. "We could cut out the power with electric types, then go down the chimney and catch them all in spinerak's web!" Ally offered out her idea with sparkling eyes. I folded my arms across my chest. "I am not Santa, I don't do chimneys" I said stubbornly. Kendo laughed, then though a moment. "The electric Pokémon might be able to cut the power though. Good Idea Ally!"

Agony came back before we could get much more planning done. "Here's the hit house." She said as she drew a house with a stick in the dirt. "There's security cameras and alarms all around, but I think I found us a way in!" I stared at the sketch in the dirt, and all the dots on it that symbolized cameras. It seemed nearly impossible to break in. I couldn't see how Agony possibly had any idea, just as long as I didn't have to go down the chimney. When I saw that mischievous smirk on my friend's face, I realized that breaking in the Santa way would be better then whatever she had in mind.

"Were going in as what?" Kendo asked with wide eyes as Agony finished explaining her plan. "Do we actually have to clean? I hate doing work!" Ally whined. I just stared out through the bushes, watching the maids take the last of the cleaning supplies from their van. "There about to head in!" I warned the others. "Alright, lets get em!"

The poor maids that were hired to clean the mansion must have been very confused when a mudkip, noctowl growlithe, manectric, zigzagoon, quilava, richu, and poocheana ran over and carried all the cleaning supplies to the front door of the mainsion. They must have been even more weirded-out when a spinerak walked up to them and stared at them innocently, waiting for a signal. They must have been simply terrified, however, when the little spider Pokémon shot web at them and wrapped them up like cacoons, then four teenage girls ran over and stole their extra outfits from their car as they shoved the poor tangled maids in the back.

"I can't believe we just did that." I said with wide eyes as we raced after out Pokémon towards the house. "Yeah, you guys might make decent criminals after all" Agony said fondly as she slipped the maid outfit on. "Yay!" Ally cheered. She already had her outfit on, though it was a little on the big side. Mudkip was at Ally's side holding a duster in its mouth. Kendo gave me a reassuring smile, then pulled the stolen outfit over her head as well. I gathered up the rest of my courage and finally put my disguise on too. If I was already starting my criminal mission of the day, I might as well finish it.

As maids, we were able to slip into the house easily. The butler that opened the door, however, wouldn't allow our Pokémon to enter the house. Only Malice was allowed to stay out of his pokeball. I didn't understand why, but Agony uttered the answer as the butler walked of to find some other Pokémon to carry our luggage. "Shinys only"

Sure enough, the butler came back with a half a dozen shiny Pokémon to carry our equipment. I gave Blitz an apologetic look as a returned him. It didn't matter how rare shinies were, to me, they were just like regular Pokémon and they shouldn't be treated any better.

As it was, though, these shinies were actually treated worse then most Pokémon. They were slave to their master, forced to do housework and serve their master. If they lost a fight or failed to do as they were told, then they were beaten. The results of the abuse was clear all over their bodies, and it was clear also to see their damaged spirits. These Pokémon had almost no spirit left to them. They were just miserable slaves to a cruel human. Kendo was growing hot with anger and Agony had to grab her arm quickly to keep her from charging towards the room that the butler had brought the shinies from. "We have to work out way there, if we rush over to clean that room first it will seem suspicious." Agony hissed in her ear. I could see the logic behind her words, but every moment spent in this house was a moment of pure horror. I wanted to escape the nightmare as fast as possible.

"Sir, is your master in today?" Agony asked as sweetly as she could muster. The butler nodded. "He's upstairs with guests. He asks that you clean that room quickly and quietly so as not to disturb them." Agony nodded, then motioned for us and the shiny slaves carrying our equipment to follow. "We'll start there then, to leave his alone quickly" she told the butler. He nodded, then walked off to do something else. The moment he was gone, Agony whispered over a quick plan of action, then Kendo strolled off to the room the shinies had come from while the rest of us went upstairs.

The owner of the mansion was a short man with an oversized suit and a funny looking hairdo. He gave us a skeptical look as we walked in. "Aren't you a little young to be maids?" he asked. I scanned the rest of the room. There were three other men with him. All seemed snotty and rich. In the center of the table was a strange blue egg. Each man had cards in his hands. "Their gambling for the egg!" Kendo noted out loud with wide eyes. "It's a shiny ditto egg." One man explained. He was quickly silenced by the owner's glare. "You aren't really maids, are you?" the owner asked suspiciously. I laughed. "Sir, my mother can't even get me to clean my room. If you think I'm cleaning your house, then your nuts!" I exclaimed as I pulled out a pokeball. "Now then, how about a battle? If I win, you have to tell us where you got all these shinies, and you have to let them all go!" The owner laughed. "I don't have to fight, I'm not telling you anything!" he said. Then he hit a button on the wall to call his butler. "Send these nosy maid imposters to jail for invading my house!" he ordered. Then Agony stepped forward with Malice. "Excuse my friend for being rash, see, I have a shiny of my own, and I was hoping to sell him. That's why we came." Agony lied sweetly. The man rolled his eyes. "What's your price?" "What would you say he's worth?" Agony countered, keeping the man distracted and allowing Ally the chance to slip away and head for the security room that Agony had pinpointed earlier. Ally had Mizuki and Manectric with her in their pokeballs. It was her job to switch of the power.

"This is stupid, I'm not going to buy from some kid anyways." The owner finally decided after a few moments of arguing over a price with Agony. "You'll regret that, he's more special then you think!" Agony replied. Just then the lights went out. "Malice! Slice that table and steal that egg!" A voice called through the darkness. Everyone scrambled for Agony and Malice, but it was my job to cover for them. "Flamethrower Blitz!" I called as my little friend appeared from a glowing red light. He did as I asked, and everyone was preoccupied with trying to put out the flames on their clothes to give chase to the teenage thieves. Agony slid down the rail to the stairs with me right behind her. Ally meet up with us at the bottom of the stairs with a flashlights. Agony took a light, then raced towards the shiny room where Kendo had gone. Ally and I hearded all the shinys who were carried the maid equipment out the door.

"Run everyone! Your free!" Ally cheered happily as all of the Pokémon flooded out. They seemed unsure what to do, like they had never been outside of the mansion before. "Blitz, go free the maids!" I ordered as I carried out the last of the shinies. My faithful growlithe darted over to the maid truck to burn the webs that held the maids and free them once again. Many of the Pokémon followed him. I peered back in the house. Agony and Kendo were finally coming, herding a few more shinies in front of them. The evil house owner and his friends were running towards us too, however. The power had come back on and they could see exactly what was going on!

Ally took charge of the situation. "Mudkip," she called, "soak everyone with watergun! Then Mizuki and Manectric, both of you use some sort of electric move!" She shouted, not knowing what moves Agony and Kendo's Pokémon knew. All of the men were electrocuted and we escaped unscathed.

"We saved all of them!" Kendo shouted cheerfully as she fist-pumped the air. The last of the shinies were scurrying away and Blitz was trotting back to me with a mission-accomplished-grin on his face. "Good, now lets scram!" I said quickly. Naturally, escaping was the one thing we didn't plan. Therefore, our plan was run like mad people and try not to fall behind and get caught by the angry rich men chasing us. It wasn't the most thought out of plans, but somehow it worked. We all ran down the road screaming out heads off until we finally came across a town and managed to hide in a Pokémon center. "Woot! Were full time criminals!" Ally cheered and we all exchanged high fives with smug grins on our faces. Mission accomplished!

2


End file.
